Haunting Memories
by alicat259
Summary: Sequel to ‘The Aftermath’. The Storm Hawks are finally back together again, but during their travels, memories of his capture and torture begin to haunt Aerrow. When Piper is taken, will he be able to overcome his fears in order to save her?
1. Healing

_Hello Everyone!!!_

_Well, I'm finally back, after a lot of delaying... but i am still experiencing severe writer's block, so even after promising to write the whole story first, i have only written a few chapters. Nevertheless, after consulting with Blue (thanks for the advice again) i have decided to publish my first chapter and hopefully i will get some inspiration from my reviewers._

_**A/N:** If you haven't read 'The Aftermath', then i suggest you do so... the story id is 4939747. If you've forgotten the events in the story or just couldn't be bothered to read it, there is a summary of it before i begin this chapter._

_So without further ado, i present to you the first chapter of 'Haunting Memories'..._

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**Summary of 'The Aftermath':**

The Storm Hawks lost the final battle. Cyclonia now had control of all terras in the Atmos. During the battle, Aerrow was captured, but he managed to tell his team to escape and go into hiding – Piper to Terra Gale, Radarr to Atmosia, Finn to Terra Vapos and Junko to Terra Wallop. Stork crashed into the wastelands with the Condor. While the Dark Ace was torturing Aerrow at Terra Zartacla, the others slowly made their way back together. Finally, they managed to rescue Aerrow (although not before he was badly injured) and get him back home to the Condor.

Now the story continues with 'Haunting Memories'

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Chapter 1: Healing**

2 weeks after the events of 'The Aftermath'…

"Hurry, Junko, they're catching up!" Piper yelled over her shoulder at Junko, who was having trouble starting his skimmer, and then glanced back to the trees on the horizon, where shadowy figures could be seen. Her heliscooter rumbled beneath her as she waited.

After a few failed attempts at starting the engine, Junko's skimmer came to life with a roar. "On my way," he said, as he sped ahead of her.

Piper quickly caught up, and they weaved through the trees as they tried to get away from their pursuers. The forest became more dense, and it grew harder to dodge at high speeds, so she yelled at Junko to slow down. The ground was moist from recent rains and whenever she braked, huge amounts of grass and leaves were dug up, making her groan. They couldn't stop and hide anymore as they could easily be tracked; they would have to out-ride them. Once they made it to a clearing, she chanced a look behind her.

"Crap."

"What?" asked Junko, as oblivious as always.

"They didn't slow down Junko. They're gaining on us."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh. Step on it. We gotta get out of here."

"Right you are, Piper."

As Junko hit the accelerator, so did she. Her heliscooter sped up, and the art of dodging became a lot harder. Vehicles such as her heliscooter weren't exactly agile. She would have used some of her blasting crystals to get rid of these trees, but someone (aka. Finn) had 'accidentally' put them in the microwave yesterday, rendering them useless. Cursing Finn under her breath, she looked over her shoulder again, and clenched her teeth. No matter how fast they went, the gap still dwindled. It was frustrating, annoying and maddening, in just a few words. She had more, and she wasn't afraid to use them.

"Hurry up, hurry up," she willed her heliscooter silently, "Faster, faster, faster."

Despite her pleas, a burst of energy hit the ground next to her front wheel, causing the whole vehicle to spin, throwing her off and onto the ground, where she slumped in a heap. She heard Junko stop further ahead, but other than that he didn't move. An energy blade was placed against her throat, and she looked up at her attacker as he spoke.

"Surrender now, and I might not kill you."

She scoffed. "_You_ might not kill me, but a week of your chores sure will," she said, smiling, as she looked into the face of her friend and leader, Aerrow.

"You're probably right," he replied as he twirled his energy blade and put it in the case on his back. "Those chores hurt me pretty bad a few weeks ago," he held out that same hand to help her up. She rolled her eyes at his reply, but took his hand gratefully. When she was back on her feet, she looked him over, checking out his injuries.

"I still don't know how you managed to catch us by driving one-handed," she said, her eyes wandering to his broken arm, which was currently in plaster and a sling. His other wounds had almost totally healed, which was the reason why she had let him join in their game today. She had been unrelenting for the past week of his pleas; making him stay in his room, when it was obvious he was getting sick of it. For the sake of everyone's sanity, she had let him out today, which had turned out to be a bad idea, because she would now have to do his chores for a week.

Aerrow shrugged. "Practice, I guess." Piper was just about to point out that he'd never had any practice with one-handed driving, when Junko finally decided to voice his thoughts.

"Hey, Aerrow? Where's Finn?"

She realised that the absence of their blonde haired teammate had slipped her mind for a minute, but now that Junko had alerted her to the fact, she was curious too.

Aerrow just smirked. "He should be here soon." When they raised their eyebrows questionably, he added, "He ran into a tree." They all burst into fits of giggles, which stopped abruptly (for a few seconds) when a dishevelled looking Finn came into sight, before starting up again, louder than before.

"What?" He asked, oblivious to the fact that he looked like a walking bush. This only made the other three start laughing harder, until Aerrow grabbed his ribs in pain and lowered himself to the ground, breathing heavily, his face bright red from lack of oxygen. Piper stopped laughing and looked at him, worried. That was, until Aerrow and Finn looked at each other and rolled their eyes.

"What?" she asked, annoyed. "Oh, come on! It's just because I care about you, Aerrow!"

"I know, Piper," Aerrow replied, trying to calm her down, "but you don't have to act like you're my mother. I can look after myself you know," then, noticing their apprehensive looks, he said, "well, I can! …ok, most of the time," he added in defeat.

Aerrow shook his head, mumbling 'girls' to himself as Piper stomped away in the direction of the Condor with a "hmph," He would never understand them.

"Geez, what's up her tree?" said Finn, prompting fresh bouts of laughter from the other two boys. "Ok," he said, now clearly confused, "can someone tell me what the heck is going on?" He watched as Aerrow and Junko rolled on the ground laughing. "Obviously not, then."

It was a few minutes before both boys had sufficient breath back to actually tell Finn what he looked like. They took turns telling him about his mud-coated shoes, pants covered in bark, leaves and twigs sticking out from his shirt and the bunch of leaves that was his hair. As icing on the cake, Junko also explained about the general mud, dirt and grass that basically coated him.

Finn's eyes grew wide with every detail of his appearance, until he was standing stock-still and staring straight ahead at the end of the description. Aerrow and Junko exchanged amused glances, before Junko walked up and slapped Finn across the cheek. He came out of his trance, but he wasn't very happy.

"Ow!!! What did you do that for?" he asked, or rather, screamed.

Junko giggled, "That hurt, didn't it? My bad."

Suddenly, Aerrow was thrown back in time, to a place he would rather – and had been trying hard to – forget.

_A searing pain down his chest, blood covering his clothes, pain beyond what he had ever felt before… and above all, red eyes, boring into him. Laughing at his pain. And a voice - "That hurt, didn't it Aerrow?"_

Just as suddenly, he was back, laying face up on the wet ground. His breathing was fast and shallow, and he was sweating profusely. Finn and Junko were crouched above him, their faces full of worry.

"Aerrow, buddy, are you ok?" said Finn. He may be annoying, but when it came down to it, he really did care about his friends. "I'm gonna go get Piper," he said, starting to get up, but Aerrow grabbed his wrist. It was only then that Aerrow realised he was shaking, too.

"Don't tell Piper. I don't want her to worry more than she is already. Just wait a sec, and I'll be fine," Aerrow said, desperately trying to convince them that what he said was true. It didn't work. Finn started getting up again, until Aerrow said, "Please, Finn. Just this once?"

He sighed, "Alright. But if it happens again, I'm getting Piper."

Aerrow nodded with relief as Junko and Finn helped him up so he could lean against the base of the tree. They watched over him closely for five minutes, until he had calmed down. His breathing was almost back to normal and he was beginning to get cold. He shivered.

Junko noticed. "We'd better be getting back." Finn and Aerrow nodded their agreement. They helped him up and together they started walking slowly back to the Condor. Aerrow noticed that the other two were watching him closely the whole time. It was a bit unnerving, but it was good to know that his friends were close by if he ever needed them.

They got back to the Condor, where Junko and Finn kept their promise. While Aerrow went to his room to rest (on Piper's orders) they started playing a game of soccer against Radarr, who was surprisingly good. After a while, he thought that they must have forgotten about the incident in the forest. However, at dinner, he noticed that they kept glancing his way, as if afraid he would collapse again.

He would never tell them, but secretly he was afraid of it too. He had thought that if he locked those memories up in his mind, that he could forget about them and that they would never plague him again. He was wrong, obviously. He knew that he should talk to someone about it, but he was afraid. Not only of the memories, although that was the main part, but also of what others would think of him. Would they think he was weak, being affected by these memories like that? His head said yes. His heart said no. He didn't listen. If he had, perhaps he could have prevented the events that were looming. But he didn't. And therefore he couldn't.

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_Well that's the end of the first chapter... hope you enjoyed it!!_

_**Please review**... hopefully it will cure my writer's block and i will be able to finish the story quicker!_

_The next chapter should be out in a few days._

_Merci!_


	2. Starling

_Hello again!!_

_I won't bore you with a long authors note beforehand, so just thanking my reviewers:_

_**Whisper: Yes, yes, I know... sorry its been so long. You actually made me feel guilty... so thanks a lot. Thanks for the advice, and I hope this update is soon enough for you. :)**_

_**Diehardstormhawksfan: **I'm glad you like the intro... thanks for the support. If I were you, I wouldn't be expecting this story to be much better than the Aftermath, but I hope you enjoy it anyway._

_**Amethyst: **I see what you mean, but I think Aerrow is just too noble for his own good and doesn't want his friends to see him weak. As you say, boys will be boys. Enjoy this chapter! _

_**I can't be bothered logging in:** i understand completely (referring to the name). Thanks for the review and I hope you enjoy the story!! :)_

_Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, but i did update pretty fast so i hope i'm forgiven..._

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Previously:**_

_He knew that he should talk to someone about it, but he was afraid. Not only of the memories, although that was the main part, but also of what others would think of him. Would they think he was weak, being affected by these memories like that? His head said yes. His heart said no. He didn't listen. If he had, perhaps he could have prevented the events that were looming. But he didn't. And therefore he couldn't..._

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Chapter 2: Starling**

The next morning dawned bright, and as he looked out of his window into the sunshine, it was easy for Finn to forget the unusual happenings of yesterday. Yes, it had worried him at the time, but really, Aerrow was fine now, and it didn't seem like there was any lasting damage. It was true that he had never seen Aerrow so scared in his life, which scared him as well, but then again, maybe it hadn't happened like that at all. It was probably just a trick of the light. Anyway, all thoughts of telling Piper what had happened were flushed out of his mind as he remembered Aerrow's plea. If it did happen again, which he was sure it wouldn't, he would tell Piper.

For now though, he thought, as an evil smirk grew on his face, he would let her worry about waking up to some awesome rock! Yep. That's exactly what he would do. When in doubt, revert back to his normal instincts (and favourite thing to do). Annoying Piper.

Then again, he thought 10 minutes later, as a furious Piper holding some sort of crystal chased him around the Condor, maybe he should have avoided the opportunity. He would have to remember that Piper didn't appreciate waking up to rock music, and that she was an awfully fast runner, next time he wanted to wake her up. As he thought it, there was a tingling in the back of his mind, and he got a small feeling of déjà vu, which he instantly dismissed as Piper shot something out of a crystal right at him. The rest of the team, who were sitting at the table eating breakfast, just rolled their eyes as they watched, wondering if, after the 50th time, Finn would learn to leave Piper sleep in.

Breakfast was uneventful after the Piper-chasing-Finn around the Condor episode. Finn, sporting fresh bruises from whatever crystal Piper had used on him, cowered under her glare as he ate his Atmos Pops – 'chocolaty, sugary and poppy!' Aerrow was almost back to his normal self, even laughing when Finn slopped milk all over himself in fright because Piper pulled a crystal out of her pocket.

The rest of the day flowed smoothly. Finn and Junko, having been humiliated by Radarr in the soccer match yesterday, tried to recover their pride in a rematch. That left Aerrow, Piper and Stork to hang out on the bridge and do, as Finn believed, the 'stuff-that-us-immature-ones-can't'. As Radarr put the ball in the back of the net again, making the score 8-0 to him, Finn sighed. Maybe a rematch wasn't such a good idea after all. Suddenly, that déjà vu feeling came back again, but Finn was so used to it now that he thought it was a normal occurrence and didn't pay it any attention.

On the bridge, more important things were occurring. Aerrow and Piper were discussing their plans on what their next mission would be, leaning over a map of the Atmos that was currently on the table. Stork was… being Stork – just doing the normal, as in, steering the ship and muttering about lurking diseases and germs.

Suddenly, the radio crackled to life. Aerrow and Piper immediately looked up from the map and made their way closer to the radio so that they could here it clearer, while Stork clutched the steering controls tighter, making his knuckles change colour from green to white, which was quite an achievement. The crackling stopped, and a voice came through the radio clearly.

"Storm Hawks, can you read me? This is Starling of the Interceptors. Come in Storm Hawks. Can you read me?"

Aerrow and Piper exchanged glances. The last they had heard of Starling she had been locked up in Cyclonia.

Aerrow quickly grabbed the radio. "Loud and clear Starling. What's up?"

"We can't talk by radio, its not safe. Can you tell me where you are located so we can talk in private?"

"Sure Starling, our coordinates are si-" Aerrow's voice was cut off by Stork's hand over his mouth. Aerrow glared at him with a 'What-do-you-think-you're-doing?' look, which was pretty scary to be on the receiving end of.

Still with his hand over Aerrow's mouth, Stork said, "Umm, well, excuse me for being careful, but don't you think its possible that we're talking to an impostor?" he said, with his eye twitching, "You could be leading Master Cyclonis herself straight to our location!" He then realised what he had just said, and with an "Eep!" fainted on the floor.

Aerrow looked down on him, and then to Piper, who shrugged, and said, "I guess he could be right, for once." When Aerrow rolled his eyes at her, she said, "Well, its not going to hurt to find out, is it?"

"Maybe not, but how are we meant to know the difference between the real Starling and an impostor?" he replied.

"Ask her a question that no-one else would know, you idiot!" she said, slapping him on the back of the head for emphasis.

"Gee, alright, alright. Umm. A question. Right." Piper rolled her eyes at him. "Well, it's not as easy as you think Piper! Ooh, wait, I've got one!" he said, as he grabbed the radio again. "Starling, how many times have we asked you to stay with us, and join the Storm Hawks?"

Piper seemed impressed by his question, which, for some reason, made his stomach flutter. He didn't get much time to consider it though, because Starling's reply came through.

"Too many times to count, Aerrow."

Aerrow's face split into a grin. "That's her, alright! Ok Starling, our coordinates are sixty-two degrees North, eighteen degrees West."

"On my way," came her voice, before the radio cut out.

"I wonder what that was about?" asked Piper as she kneeled over Stork, just to check he was still breathing. After a moment she seemed satisfied, and made her way back to the table where Aerrow was staring intently at the map.

"I don't know," was his reply. "What do you think is so important that it had to be said in private?"

Piper sighed. "Why do boys never use their brains? She's obviously escaped from Cyclonia and has a Cyclonian ride. They could listen in on any of her conversations, that's why she needed to talk in private."

"Oh, right. I didn't think of that."

She snorted. "Well, that was obvious. Seriously, boys these days have so much to learn."

Suddenly, Aerrow felt sick again. His head started spinning and, like a lit match, one memory was sparked in his brain. He tried to shut it out, but he knew he couldn't do it for much longer. He excused himself quickly, not noticing Piper's worried stare because of the pain building in his head. He had started staggering towards the exit when he realised Piper had said something.

"What?" he asked sluggishly.

"I said are you ok?"

"Yeah, just need to lie down," he said, before rushing out the door and down the hallway to his room, where he slammed the door shut and collapsed on his bed, giving in to the memories and slipping into unconsciousness.

"_Kids these days have so much to learn. Let's begin our lesson, then, shall we? Number one," the Dark Ace said, as he brought out a fire crystal and held it in front of Aerrow's eyes, "Play with fire, but only when you are in control of it!"_

_A whip crack. _

_A moment where nothing seemed to have happened. _

_A searing pain across his chest._

_More cracks. _

_More pain. _

_High pitched laughter as darkness overcame him._

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_Just a few notes: Stork's idea of asking Starling a question came from Harry Potter (not mine), and I didn't know how they did co-ordinates in Atmos but i just stuck with conventional earth stuff (also not mine), and if you are doubtful, I do not own Storm Hawks._

_Please review!!! Inspiration helps unblock my writers block!!_

_Arigatoo!!!_


	3. Visitor

_And i'm back!!! Sorry about the shortness of this chapter again, but its an update at least. the next one should be longer._

_To my faithful reviewers:_

_**Whisper:** Yeah, i was going to comment about your hypocriticalness, but i still felt guilty... but next time you go being hypocritical i'll be onto you straight away. Thanks for the great comments, and sorry about the shortness (again). I hope this update was fast enough for you._

_**Kajskk/Nathalie:** Well the moment you are looking forward to is still a few chapters away, but i hope you enjoy the story till then... Thanks for reviewing!! :)_

_**Diehardstormhawksfan: **I'm seriously just going to call you Diehard from now on.. is that ok?? Nice idea for a story there... maybe later (there i go procrastinating again). Thanks for the awesome comments and I hope you enjoy this chapter!_

_**Blue: **Don't worry about it... I knew you didn't give up on me so that's fine. Oh yes, the PiperxAerrow... should be more of that later, not in this chapter but i put some in the next just for you. And I know you love my evilness... _

_**Amethyst:** Cool new mission coming right up!!! At least i think its cool.. and 3 updates in a week isn't too bad, is it?? Thanks for the review, i really appreciate it!!!_

_Thanks everyone! Please review and enjoy!!!_

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Previously:**

"Yeah, just need to lie down," he said, before rushing out the door and down the hallway to his room, where he slammed the door shut and collapsed on his bed, giving in to the memories and slipping into unconsciousness.

"_Kids these days have so much to learn. Let's begin our lesson, then, shall we? Number one," the Dark Ace said, as he brought out a fire crystal and held it in front of Aerrow's eyes, "Play with fire, but only when you are in control of it!"_

_A whip crack. _

_A moment where nothing seemed to have happened. _

_A searing pain across his chest._

_More cracks. _

_More pain. _

_High pitched laughter as darkness overcame him._

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Chapter 3: Visitor**

Aerrow awoke sometime later to someone knocking at his door. With his head pounding like someone was bashing it over and over again with a hammer, he turned over and groaned.

"Aerrow?" came a soft voice. Piper. "Aerrow, can I come in?"

"Yeah."

The door opened softly, and Piper's dark hair and amber eyes peered through, before the gap widened and she walked inside.

"Are you ok? You gave me a bit of a scare a few hours ago." When he didn't answer immediately, she put her hands on her hips and asked pointedly, "What happened?"

"Nothing. I was just a bit dizzy, that's all. But I'm fine now."

Her eyes narrowed, and she gave him a look as if to say this-will-continue-later-whether-you-like-it-or-not. As expected, Aerrow shuffled to the other side of the bed in order to get as far away from her glare as possible.

"Anyway," she continued, "I just came to tell you that Starling should be arriving in about five minutes." Her eyes lingered on his messy hair for a moment. "Maybe you should make yourself more presentable," she said, before stalking out of the room.

Aerrow shook his head in wonder at Piper's fascination with looking good for Starling. Starling was practically part of the Storm Hawks now, and if she hadn't seen Aerrow with tousled hair yet, then she would have to get used to it. Nevertheless, Aerrow ran a comb through his hair so that he wouldn't have to encounter Piper's wrath. Even the pain of tearing knots of hair out of a throbbing head would be better than facing an angry Piper.

He emerged from his room four minutes later, his hair considerably neater than before. The others were all on the bridge, and he could see that Piper had had her influence there as well. Junko had been forced to change uniforms, as Aerrow distinctly remembered the one that he was wearing earlier had tomato sauce and other unknown food stains all over it. Radarr looked disgruntled, wet and unusually clean, as if he had just been victim to an unsuspecting bath. Stork was grumbling about having to put away all of his cans of disinfectant. However, the most surprising would have to be Finn. His hair was slicked back so that he looked like Elvis Presley, which was not a pretty sight. Aerrow glanced at Piper with a question in his eyes. She rolled her eyes in a way that said she was not responsible for what Finn did to his hair. Aerrow looked back to Finn in surprise, but decided not to comment for the sake of all of their sanity.

At that moment, Starling's skimmer could be heard landing in the Hangar Bay. Without looking at the others, Aerrow made his way to the door, hearing their footsteps following him. His first glimpse of Starling made him surprised and confused. He had expected her to look at least a little bit worse for wear, but the only sign that she had been captured by Cyclonians were the bags under her eyes, which may not have been caused by that at all.

After she had dismounted from her skimmer, she looked up at Aerrow and smiled. Making her way towards him, she held out her hand.

"Aerrow."

"Starling," he replied, taking her hand and shaking it, "You look well."

"Wish I could say the same for you," she said, her eyes roaming over his body and taking in the broken arm and other various bandages.

"I'm fine. Come inside, the team have been quite excited to see you again," he said, while making a point of looking at Piper and Finn, who blushed. Luckily for them, Starling didn't notice, and made her way inside.

Once they were on the bridge, Aerrow asked her the question that all of them wanted to know.

"So how did you manage to escape?"

She smiled. "I could ask you the same thing."

"I had help," he said, gesturing to his team, who smiled.

"So did I."

Aerrow frowned. He wondered how Starling could have got help when the rest of the Sky Knights were also locked up or in hiding somewhere. He figured that someone must have come out of hiding to save her. But who?

"Who?" asked Junko, for all of their sakes.

She smiled again. "Aerrow, of course."

Aerrow snorted. "Of course," he said sarcastically. "No, really. Who was it?" When Starling didn't answer and just kept smiling at him, he cracked. "All right, fine, I did help you. How?"

That seemed to be the question she was waiting for. "I softened up one of the guards. I figured out that if I was left alone with him I could bribe him to let me out. But I would be too weak to take on the rest of them, so I needed something to happen that would mean I was left with only this guy and a few others, max."

Piper supplied the answer. "Aerrow's escape."

She nodded. "Yes. You were the most wanted prisoner in Atmos for a while. Still are, actually. They took most of the guards off duty to find you, and luckily I was left with old softy. So I got out, grabbed a skimmer and took off. I was too weak to travel long distances, so I hid out on an abandoned terra until I got my strength back. Then I came to find you."

"So what's so important that you had to see us for? I mean, not that I didn't want you to come or anything…" Finn finished lamely. Piper shot him a look and he cowered away.

Starling turned to Aerrow again. "I heard some top secret information while I was in Cyclonia. Those Talons should really learn to keep their mouths shut around prisoners. Apparently Cyclonis and the Dark Ace have found something, I don't know whether it is a crystal or something else, but whatever it is, it has immense power and could be used to destroy anything that they want it to. I don't know how it works, the Talons were pissed off that they weren't told details, but I know that it is located in a deep cave somewhere on Terra Canyonas."

Piper took in the information quickly. "Terra Canyonas? Isn't that where all the landslides have been taking place recently?"

"The very same," replied Starling.

"So its an abandoned terra, then?" asked Aerrow.

"Of course it is, genius," said Finn, "You don't think they stuck around when there were huge piles of rocks falling on them do you?"

"Shut up, Finn," Piper interrupted. "Why do you say that, Aerrow?"

"Well, couldn't we just have a quick fly over on our skimmers? If they're the only people on the terra we should be able to spot them pretty easily."

Piper looked confused. "Well, yeah, but we'd actually need to go into the cave to stop Cyclonis, Aerrow."

"Of course I knew that. I just thought it might be easier to get an idea of where they are first, is all."

It was only then that Piper noticed that Aerrow's face had gone a shade paler and his hands were shaking on top of the table. He was either getting sick again or something was bothering him. He noticed her looking and put his hands in his lap. She tried to meet his eyes but whenever she did he looked away quickly.

"Aerrow, why don't you go back to your room and rest? You don't look very well," she suggested.

It was a sign of how bad he actually was feeling that he didn't retaliate, only giving a sharp nod of his head before standing and leaving the room. Piper felt her eyes narrowing and saw that Starling was also looking confused.

"So," asked Starling when she was sure Aerrow was out of earshot, "what happened to Aerrow when he was captured?"

"We don't know," said Junko. "He didn't tell us anything. Just said he was fine."

"Well he's not," Starling replied. "I've heard they use pretty brutal methods over there and its quite obvious that something isn't right with Aerrow. Some people have even gone as far as saying that their mental torture is worse than the physical torture."

Piper's eyes moved to look at where Aerrow had left the room. "It seems like it is."

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_*Dramatic sigh*_

_Another one over. Now I'm going to have to start cranking up the writing speed... and you know what helps me do that??? _

_REVIEWS!!!_

_Ok so that was really lame, but you get the idea. Review please!_

_Gracias!_


	4. Found Out

_Hellooooo again my fellow readers!_

_Christmas is only 5 days away!!!! But... sad news, for you. I'm going on holiday for a week and a half starting today, so no updating till i get back. Sorry! I hope everyone has a great Christmas and safe holidays if they are going somewhere._

_This chapter includes quite a lot of a Finn/Piper sibling relationship, so tell me if you like that._

_Now, to my reviewers:_

_**Whisper: **I'd actually laugh if Spot got up a bit more courage and did sick Aerrow.. but as far as i can see that's not going to happen. Thanks so much for the review. It made me laugh. And i really hope I updated fast enough for you. Merry Christmas!!_

_**delphigirl689:** Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed my stories. Have a great Christmas and I hope to hear from you when I get back. hi_

_**Blue:** I agree about the quiff... disturbing but awesome. and yes, more Aerrow x Piper this chapter.. just for you. Have a really good Christmas and I will try to update ASAP when I get back._

_**Diehard: **that story would be cool, but I think i'll have to wait till i finish this one first. thanks for the compliment, but i think my writing style changes a lot... meh. Merry Christmas! Enjoy this chapter._

_**Amethyst: **Yeah.. Finn is a strange one. Enjoy this chapter and have a great Christmas!_

_Ok guys.. that's over.. now read on!_

**

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Previously:**

"I've heard they use pretty brutal methods over there and its quite obvious that something isn't right with Aerrow. Some people have even gone as far as saying that their mental torture is worse than the physical torture."

Piper's eyes moved to look at where Aerrow had left the room. "It seems like it is."

**

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Chapter 4: Found Out**

After Aerrow left the room, the rest of the Storm Hawks and Starling made small talk for a few hours. Piper's heart wasn't really in it because she spent most of this time worrying about her Sky Knight. Eventually the rest of the team wandered off to bed, leaving Starling and Piper sitting at the table in silence. Piper rose when Starling suggested she went to bed, but she couldn't resist walking past Aerrow's room on the way to hers. She lingered at the door for longer than was necessary, just watching him breathe.

The next morning at breakfast, the Storm Hawks including Starling, who had stayed over night in her own bedroom aboard the Condor, were sitting around the table in the kitchen. Starling, Aerrow and Piper had intended to start planning the mission, but it seemed that typical Condor life would not allow for it.

Junko was steadily eating his way through a box of cereal and two bowls full of traditional Wallop breakfast food, providing a spectacle for Starling who had never seen anyone eat that much in one sitting before. Finn had previously been celebrating because he had received Storm Hawks action figures from a box of Atmos Pops. However, Radarr had taken his chance to steal the toys and was now chirping gleefully while being chased around the table by Finn. In all the commotion, a jug of milk had fallen to the floor and Stork had jumped to clean it up, muttering about how they were all going to fall prey to bacteria lurking in the milk. While all of this was going on, Aerrow and Piper sat at one end of the table, talking to each other and acting like this was normal. Starling had to wonder how they ever got anything done at all.

Eventually, breakfast was over, and Starling, Aerrow and Piper moved to the bridge to discuss the plan while Stork went to the helm and Finn, Junko and Radarr went to watch their favourite TV program, Atmos Idol. The show was in its final stages and Finn and Junko were each cheering on different contestants, and so it wasn't uncommon to hear random screaming and cheering while the show was on. Nonetheless, Starling attempted to block out the noise and started to discuss the plan.

"If we are still intending on entering the cave, then I think we need to do so by cover of night. That way it will be harder for the Talons outside the cave to spot us," she stated.

Piper nodded. "I agree. Aerrow?"

He hesitated, the memories of his time in the pitch-black room, also known as the pit, resurfacing and making him shiver. However, Starling and Piper were both staring at him so he complied. "Uh… sure." His reluctance didn't go unnoticed by the girls, who shared a worried glance over his head.

The awkward silence was broken by Junko's cheer from the living room. Starling, startled out of her reprieve, continued. "Even at night, there will still be heaps of Talons guarding the cave, so we'll need a distraction if we want to get in without too much trouble."

Finn's voice carried from a few rooms away. "Did I hear someone say distraction?"

Piper sighed, before replying, "Yes, Finn."

"Wait, pause that for a second Junko. I can't miss Jayce's song," Finn's voice was the same as ever, loud enough for anyone to hear from a mile away even if he was only talking to Junko who was in the same room.

On the other hand, Junko's reply could only just be heard. "But you can't pause live TV, Finn."

Piper could almost hear Finn roll his eyes. "Honestly Junko, do you not know anything? I personally went to Terra Atmosia to buy a TiVo thing that can pause, rewind and replay live TV. Now this button-"

"FINN!" Piper interrupted, "If we wanted you to be a walking advertisement for TiVo we would have sold you to the Electronics shop years ago. Now will you hurry up and get in here already?"

After a few seconds Finn walked through the door and onto the bridge, before plonking himself down at the table between Starling and Aerrow. "Ok, ok. Now is this or is this not the best distraction you've ever heard of?"

"What, Atmos Idol or TiVo?" a disgruntled Piper replied, "Because not even the Talons would get distracted by that crap."

Finn opened his mouth to continue before he realised that he had just been insulted. He promptly closed his mouth and proceeded to glare at Piper, who turned away and crossed her arms. After a few seconds, Starling cleared her throat, and Finn got back on track. "No," he said, irritated. However he couldn't help a smile creeping onto his face when he continued. "Fireworks!!! Specially created by moi."

Piper gave him a speculating look, as if wondering how on earth he could have created fireworks. "And how do these fireworks work Finn?"

"Well," Finn said, excited and starting to babble, "you just grab a light bluey sort of crystal and an orange crystal and then you push them together and BOOM! Fireworks! I don't know if you can do it with other colours but-"

Piper narrowed her eyes. "And where did you get these crystals, Finn?"

Finn stopped talking suddenly, realising what he had just said. His eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape. "Oh, no, I forgot, I didn't make them, not at all, just bought them on Terra-"

But Piper jumped at her chance to make Finn squirm, and asked again, "Where were the crystals from Finn?"

"Crystals? I don't remember ever mentioning crystals. Neither did the packet that I _bought_ the fireworks in. Nup. Nothing about crystals. Nothing at all," Finn said, all the while cringing further and further away from Piper, who was beginning to lean across the table in order to interrogate him more.

Aerrow, sensing a huge Piper vs. Finn argument coming along, gestured frantically to Starling, and they quietly rose from the table and took cover on the other side of the room as Piper and Finn continued the fight.

"Did this light bluey crystal and orange crystal possibly come from _my room_ Finn?" Piper continued.

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about Piper. I know nothing about any such crystals. You know what? Just forget about the fireworks idea. It was stupid. I'll just go back to Atmos Idol, shall I?" he said, getting up from the chair and almost tipping it over in his haste to get away.

Piper growled. "Not so fast. I want to know why you were in _my_ room and why you felt that it was at your liberty to use _my _crystals?"

Finn's resolve crumbled under the mighty glare that Piper was giving him. He muttered, "I might just run away now," before bolting out of sight like a frighted rabbit.

It was only the sight of Aerrow and Starling blocking the door that prevented Piper from following.

"If you don't mind," Starling said, slightly irritated, "I'd like to get on with planning the mission rather than playing immature games like 'catch me if you can'."

Piper, embarrassed that she had just been told off by her idol, blushed and stammered an agreement. Aerrow smirked at her predicament, but stopped when she glared at him and muttered, "Shut up."

He put his hands up in surrender. "Hey, I didn't say anything!"

Piper scoffed. "You were thinking it. I know you were thinking it."

The edges of Aerrow's mouth twitched upwards slightly. "Guilty."

Starling's slightly annoyed voice drifted over to the couple from the table. "If you are done over there, I think it would be advisable to come up with a plan _before_ the whole Atmos is destroyed, don't you?"

Aerrow rolled his eyes, "Coming, Starling." Their hands brushed slightly against each other as they turned to walk back to the table. Aerrow felt a tingle at the top of his spine in reaction to the contact. He looked sideways at Piper and was perplexed to notice that she looked slightly pink, but thought that she must still be blushing in reaction to Starling calling her immature.

"Ok, so we'll work out the distraction later. If worst comes to worst, we'll have Stork, Finn and Junko start a mock-fight with the Talons while slip past them," she decided, before pulling out a hand-drawn diagram of the cave, "Once we're inside, there's a steep decline until we are about 100 metres in," she said, pointing at a spot on the map. "I suspect that the Cyclonians will have the cave lit and guards posted up to this point so that any intruders can be taken out before they get too close. Hopefully these guards will be drawn out by our distraction, but we will have to be prepared either way, so Piper, can you start a list of what we need to take?

Piper grabbed a piece of paper and a pen and then wrote _What to bring: weapons_. When she had finished, she nodded to Starling who continued.

"After that point, I expect that the cave will get very dark because we are so far underground, so Piper can you add torches to the list please." Piper did so while Starling resumed. "Our aim is this chamber here, where Cyclonis is housing her weapon," she stated, pointing to a position approximately one kilometre away from the entrance, "Cyclonis wouldn't want anyone to reach the chamber so we can anticipate that all along this tunnel will be pitch black with very low ceilings and possibly some sort of defence mechanisms."

Aerrow's breathing was laboured. He was trying to stay focussed but Starling's description of the cave was bringing back horrifying memories of a tiny room where no light or sound could penetrate the walls. He was distantly aware of Piper and Starling still discussing the plan a few metres away, but familiar pain was starting to course through his body and darkness was beginning to edge into his vision. His eyesight started to go fuzzy, flickering from the Condor to the pit*, until he was unsure which was reality and which was a figment of his imagination. He couldn't move. The darkness was consuming him, while fear clenched at his stomach. He faintly heard Starling's voice falter, and then Piper calling his name over and over again, but it seemed to get more and more faint each time. He tried to reply but the darkness swallowed him and he sank down into the pain of his memories.

* * *

_Heh.. a cliffhanger (sorta) .. my bad.. might have forgotten about that._

_Anyway, you'll have to wait for a week and a half to find out what happens._

_As your christmas present to me, please review!!!!_

_Danke._

_Merry Christmas once again!_

_Ali xox_


	5. Sharing

_I'm back!!! Didja miss me???_

_Anyway, sorry for the delay, but i was having a lovely time going to the beach and actually getting a tan on my previously albino stomach._

_Details about this chapter: A bit of StarlingxPiper sibling and StarlingxAerrow sibling relationships here... nothing that could be interpreted any other way._

_As always, I would like to thank all my reviewers.._

_**Amethyst: **Yes, Piper and Finn fights always make me laugh.. they are really different characters. I hope you had a great christmas also. Thanks so much for all of your reviews._

_**Blue: **glad you are loving it. I find it funny how Finn is the butt of all my jokes in this fic. Ah well, he's fictional right? so I'll be fine... *gets hit by a multitude of water bombs* Finn- "I'll give you fictional!!!" Me- *chases him with a hockey stick*_

_**Me loves jelly: **mmmm... jelly. yum. me too. I'm glad you like the story and thanks so much for reviewing. I hope this chapter is up to your standards._

_**delphigirl: **Thanks for the review. I hope you had a great christmas and that you enjoy this chapter._

_**Whisper: **yes, the Pit was one of your more cruel ideas. I hope you had fun skiing!! And that you didn't get too cold while i was in the warm tropics of Australia. I'll hear from you next year, I guess._

_**Diehard: **Oh, yes, my evil cliffie. I think this one is pretty bad too... sorry. Yeah, the whole thing with Starling having maps and stuff is a bit dodgy, i admit. I'm just guessing she has contacts somewhere. I hope you had a great christmas._

_Finally, on with the story!!_

**

* * *

Previously:**

Aerrow's breathing was laboured. He was trying to stay focussed but Starling's description of the cave was bringing back horrifying memories of a tiny room where no light or sound could penetrate the walls. He was distantly aware of Piper and Starling still discussing the plan a few metres away, but familiar pain was starting to course through his body and darkness was beginning to edge into his vision. His eyesight started to go fuzzy, flickering from the Condor to the pit, until he was unsure which was reality and which was a figment of his imagination. He couldn't move. The darkness was consuming him, while fear clenched at his stomach. He faintly heard Starling's voice falter, and then Piper calling his name over and over again, but it seemed to get more and more faint each time. He tried to reply but the darkness swallowed him and he sank down into the pain of his memories.

**

* * *

Chapter 5: Sharing**

It all happened so suddenly.

One minute, Startling was talking about the plan, showing Aerrow and Piper a hand-drawn map and pointing out how they were going to reach the chamber located at the end of the cave. Piper kept casting furtive glances at Aerrow, but he seemed fine.

Then Starling started describing what each person would do after they reached the chamber. Piper was so caught up in listening to her role in the plan that by the time she remembered to sneak a look at Aerrow, something had gone wrong.

His body was shaking violently and his breath was coming in short, sharp gasps. It was obvious that he was looking without really seeing anything, because his eyes were flickering around the room without focussing.

Starling noticed that Piper wasn't paying attention and followed her gaze to Aerrow. Her voice faltered in the middle of a sentence. Acting on instinct and worry, Piper starting calling Aerrow's name frantically. He didn't respond, but instead fell into unconsciousness. He stopped shaking and his breathing evened out again. Piper relaxed slightly, and put her hand gently onto his forehead, before immediately pulling away.

"He's really hot," she informed Starling, who nodded.

"Let's put him in his room, let him get comfortable."

Together Piper and Starling hoisted Aerrow upright so that he was standing unsteadily, before each grabbing an arm and supporting one side of him. They walked slowly to his room, where they placed him carefully on the bed. Starling made her way out immediately, but Piper hesitated beside his still form.

"Will he be ok?"

Starling smiled slightly at her worry, "Yes. There's nothing you can do for him now, Piper. Come outside and we'll talk about it. When he wakes up Aerrow has some serious explaining to do."

Piper sighed reluctantly, but squeezed Aerrow's hand before making her way out of his room. Starling sensed her unease, and decided that Piper needed to escape the Condor for a while. They had almost reached Terra Canyonas anyway, so she told Stork to stop at a small, peaceful Terra close by.

When they arrived a few hours later, the boys, excluding Stork, who preferred to stay in the safety of the Condor, and Aerrow, who was still asleep, sprinted out of the ship in their togs (swimmers) and dove into the small creek that meandered its way through the Terra. Starling and Piper followed more slowly, wandering silently beside the creek until they came to a peaceful spot and sat down on a soft patch of grass. From there, they could still hear Finn's squeals, but it seemed as though the noise from a different world.

Piper sighed and grabbed a smooth grey pebble from beside her. Both girls watched as she threw the stone and it skipped the water three times before sinking slowly to the bottom. She skipped a few more stones before finally voicing her opinion to the older and more experienced lady sitting beside her.

"What's wrong with him?"

Starling didn't have to ask to know that she was talking about Aerrow. "He's hurt and confused, mentally. He's scared. The torture scarred him deeper than you could believe, Piper."

Piper's voice was small, worried. "Will he be ok?"

"When he wakes up, we'll get him to talk about it. He'll find it hard but we will all be there to support him. That'll help, but time will be the greatest healer."

"And the mission?"

Starling sighed. "I don't know. This certainly makes it a lot more complicated. I don't think Aerrow will be able to go into those caves without suffering like he did today, or worse."

Piper nodded. She had expected as much. She fingered another pebble before skipping it across the creek. "We will still have to ask him what he thinks about this whole thing. Sick or not, he's still our Sky Knight and leader."

"Yes. But we can't keep putting this off for too much longer. Cyclonis could be acting now, and we would be none the wiser."

"What do you suggest then?" Piper asked.

"I think that tomorrow we should do a fly-by, and check the activity around the cave."

"Aerrow won't come," Piper said forcefully.

"Of course not," said Starling, reinforcing Piper's statement, "he won't like it, but he's still too unwell to be of any use. I think that just you and me should go. It will be quick, just to check that their plan isn't making any rapid headway that we are unaware of. Then our real plan will get underway a few days after that. We should be able to tell by then whether Aerrow will be able to join us."

Piper threw her last pebble into the creek. "We should be getting back, he might have woken up by now."

Starling agreed, and they slowly stood up, and started to walk back to the Condor. On the way, they stopped just long enough to tell the boys to get out, quickly leaving before they could get splashed.

When they made it back to the Condor, it was to find Aerrow sitting dejectedly at the table on the bridge. He looked up when he heard them walk in and smiled shyly. Piper, who was angry now that she knew he was all right, turned away to the kitchen to prepare lunch without greeting Aerrow or acknowledging his presence. Starling, on the other hand, went and sat down next to him.

"How are you feeling now, Aerrow?"

Aerrow didn't reply immediately, and when he did, it was in the form of another question. "You're going to make me talk about it, aren't you?"

Starling smiled sadly. "Yes. And you know why, don't you."

He sighed. "Yes." After a short pause, he added, "Is she angry at me?"

Again, Starling didn't need to ask to know whom he was talking about. "No. Well, yes," then seeing Aerrow's dejected look she added, "No."

Aerrow looked at her, slightly confused.

Starling continued, "She was frantic with worry about you all morning, and it was only when I talked to her seriously that she calmed down… A bit. But now that you're awake, she can see that you're ok, so she's angry at you for not telling her about this before."

Aerrow was still confused. "So she is angry."

Starling ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "No, that's not what I meant at all. She's only angry at you because she cares about you."

Aerrow copied Starling's action, running his hands through his hair in frustration. "I'm so confused."

Starling's voice was sharp as she retaliated, "Just because you have the emotional range of a teaspoon, Aerrow, doesn't mean that everyone else here does. Piper is angry that you didn't tell her before this because by doing so you could have saved yourself a lot of pain. There, is that in simple enough terms for you?"

"Why couldn't you have just said it like that the first time?"

Luckily Finn, Junko and Radarr entering the Condor loudly saved him from another insult. Piper's voice floated from the kitchen, telling them that they had to change before they could eat. This was met with reluctant groans from all involved, but they did as they were told anyway. Soon after that, Piper made her way onto the bridge with a plate piled high with sandwiches. She placed it on the table and then sat down next to Starling, without looking at Aerrow once.

"You should probably eat, Starling, before the boys-who-have-never-eaten-in-their-life arrive," she said, before picking up a sandwich and tucking in. Starling and Aerrow followed suit. Two minutes later everyone else came in and within another two minutes the whole plate had disappeared. (Yes, even the plate went).

After much burping and rolling of eyes, Starling turned to Piper.

"Piper, this is about the Storm Hawks. I am not one of the Storm Hawks and so I can't initiate this… meeting. As the second in command, you have to talk to Aerrow. You have to leave your emotions behind for the moment and get on with your job."

Piper sighed, and turned to Aerrow. Her face was blank but her eyes held glimpses of anger and concern at the same time. She looked around at the others before turning her gaze back to him. She closed her eyes, seeming to gather up some unseen strength, and then opened them again, staring straight into his eyes.

"Aerrow-" she started hesitantly, "we need you to tell us what happened to you on Terra Zartacla."

* * *

_Oh, dear. Another cliffie. And i haven't even started on the next chapter so it could take a while._

_(That's your hint to review)_

_Well, this is my last update of the year, so HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!_

_Please review, as it will help me update faster._

_Spasibo!_


	6. An Inconvenient Truth

_Hi again!! _

_Quite a fast update considering that i had to write the whole chapter, however it may be a bit boring as it is mainly just a recount of the events of the Aftermath... sorry about that. _

_On the bright side, there's no cliffhanger in this chapter!!_

_That's it._

_So, my lovely reviewers:_

_**Diehard: **Yes, Aerrow definitely should stop trying to understand Piper... it just doesn't work. Thanks for the review and enjoy the chapter!!_

_**Whisper: **Happy new year to you too... seems a bit sad that its a whole nother year till christmas, doesn't it? No cliffhanger for you this time!! Glad you enjoyed skiing!_

_**Amethyst: **Yes, they are finally going to find out... Piper will be fine, she's just worried. Thanks for the review!_

_**Blue: **Looking forward to the new year which will be a lot busier than last but will hopefully still contain a few stories. Enjoy the chapter!_

**

* * *

Previously:**

Piper sighed, and turned to Aerrow. Her face was blank but her eyes held glimpses of anger and concern at the same time. She looked around at the others before turning her gaze back to him. She closed her eyes, seeming to gather up some unseen strength, and then opened them again, staring straight into his eyes.

"Aerrow-" she started hesitantly, "we need you to tell us what happened to you on Terra Zartacla."

**

* * *

Chapter 6: An Inconvenient Truth**

Aerrow sighed. He knew the question was coming. But somehow, it still caught him unawares. He was unprepared. He wasn't ready to tell them the story. A small voice in his head spoke the truth that he had been dreading: he would never be ready. Terra Zartacla. The name was enough to send tremors through his body and memories through his head. There was no knowing what telling the story would do to him. He couldn't do it. He wouldn't. He shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I can't."

"Aerrow," Starling's voice was sharp, "you must."

"But I can't."

Piper's soft voice spoke to him gently, "You have to, Aerrow. We'll all be here. We'll support you, no matter what."

He looked around at the others, and they all nodded their agreement. He felt a surge of love for all of them. Piper, who could be sharp, kind, gentle, funny… everything. She was the one who held everyone together. And, he thought quietly, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid his eyes on. Then there was Finn, his best friend for like… ever. Sure he may be annoying, loud and far too immature. But he was the most loyal and self-sacrificing person that Aerrow had ever met. Radarr, his loyal companion, who was always there when he couldn't turn to anyone else, who always knew how he was feeling, and who was loyal beyond a doubt. Junko, the big wallop who was really just a softy underneath. He had the greatest capacity to love, and would never hurt a fly. His love and friendship for his team knew no bounds. And then there was Starling, a friend who had gone through trials and suffering, loosing her whole squadron. Yet she still trusted them, a group of teenagers totally new to the world of Sky Knights. Hell, he even loved Stork and his paranoid ways, twitching and preparing for impending doom. Despite this, he was extremely brave and loyal to the Storm Hawks.

These people were his squadron and family, whom he loved, whom he trusted beyond a doubt. He knew that they also loved and trusted him. So why was it so difficult to share his story? The one thing they wanted, the one thing that they asked from him, and he couldn't give it. He thought that his love for them was stronger that that. As he looked around at them again, Radarr ran up to him and bounded into his lap. His warm, furry body and his loving embrace gave Aerrow a surge of strength. Aerrow's love for his family _was_ stronger than that.

He took a deep breath, and began.

"After you guys left, Cyclonis knocked me out with some sort of crystal. I came to a few hours later in one of the prisons. There were heaps of guards stationed outside and the Warden kept coming and teasing me, finally having got me back after our escape earlier in the year," he shared a grin with Radarr, remembering the Warden's face, "Then Cyclonis came in. She told me about her plan to kill all of the Sky Knights and anyone else who didn't follow her. Then she asked me for a favour," he shook slightly, thinking of what would have happened if he had accepted, "She wanted me to help her."

A multitude of exclamations came from the others. After everyone had calmed down, Piper asked, "But why you?"

"I think her exact words were: 'It seems that there are far too many of these people for just the Dark Ace and I to… get rid off. And it seems we might run into some difficulties while carrying out my plan, and so only the best fighters will be able to go on the mission. Ravess and Snipe will be running everything else while I am gone, so they will not be able to join us. We have identified you as one of the best sky knights, and since you are conveniently here already, we have decided to use you.'"

Finn whistled, "Dude, you just got complimented by Cyclonis."

Piper glared at Finn, and he shut up. "I still can't believe that she thought you would do that."

Aerrow sighed, "That's not the worst of it. She wanted me to get you guys."

Radarr cringed, and Junko said, "That's mean!"

Aerrow continued, "I asked her what absurd idea make her think I would join them, and she said that I had no choice in the matter. I told her that I would refuse anyway, and she said that if I did, I would die a slow and painful death. I told her I'd rather die."

The others were looking at him with a mixture of sorrow and pity. Piper, ever the rational one, asked, "Why didn't she just use a mind-control crystal?"

"I asked her that too. She said she'd rather me be in my right state of mind as I… kill you, so that you would have no doubt that I turned my back on you. "

"That's sick," said Finn. Everyone nodded his or her agreement.

Aerrow grinned, "That's what I said. Sadly she took it as a compliment."

He paused and his smile faded. Piper and Starling shared a significant look before swapping seats so that Piper was next to Aerrow. She took his hand in comfort and he smiled slightly.

"After that was the first time. The Dark Ace came in and dragged me to the torture chamber. Most of you saw it – the one with the metal pole in the middle. They tied me to it, my wrists behind it and my ankles on the ledge about a metre above the ground. We had a little chat, then-"

He stopped as if he couldn't go on any further, and Piper moved to comfort him, when he took of his shirt and gestured to the bandage that went from his chest to his stomach. The people around the table winced, but Aerrow continued as though he hadn't noticed.

"He laughed, and we talked some more, then he brought out a fire crystal and a whip and connected the two. That's how I got these."

He stopped again, and showed them three bandages, one across his chest, another on his shoulders and the last on his legs. Piper had silent tears coursing down her cheeks, but again, Aerrow didn't notice and continued as if he was in a trance.

"I was loosing consciousness, but I heard another crack. He had hit the metal pole with the whip, and the whole pole had burnt white-hot. I lost consciousness."

The people around the table gasped, and Radarr snuggled closer into Aerrow's lap. Piper realised he was shaking and grabbed his hand. He took several deep breaths before the shaking subsided and he went on.

"That was the first time I met Matilda," he smiled slightly, despite the bad memories, "She gave me hope. And a reason to fight. I was about to give up, but I'm so glad she was there."

Everyone smiled sadly, and Aerrow looked around at them for the first time since he had started talking.

"You guys were the reason I kept going. You gave me hope, and I can't thank you enough for that."

They smiled again, and Finn said, "No worries, buddy."

"Ace went to Cyclonia the next day, so I had an extra day of recuperation. The second time, I got taken back to the chamber and the Dark Ace demonstrated how he killed my father," he stood up and showed them the bandage covering the wound on his back. "They stopped the bleeding, then woke me up. Then they put me in the Pit," seeing the question in everyone's eyes, he said, "the Pit is a room measuring exactly one cubic metre. You can't stand or stretch inside it. Hell, you can't even move. No light, smell or sound penetrates the walls. So pretty much, you're alone, in the dark, unable to move, without food or water for as long as they feel like."

Once or twice, someone made a noise as though to interrupt him, but Starling held up her hand to stop them. Aerrow was glad of this, because it was easier to keep going now that he had started. It was even a relief. It was costing him every bit of determination he had to keep talking, but it felt almost as though something poisonous was being extracted from him and he sensed that once he had finished, he would feel better.

"I was in there for more than two days. I still don't know the exact amount of time it was, and I would prefer not to. By the end of it I was delirious. I was dehydrated, starving, cramping, and the wound in my back had reopened. I was weak from the loss of blood and I kept replaying the worst moments of my life in my head. When they got me out, they took me to a bare room with a barrel in the middle. I was thrown on the ground and I couldn't get up even if I wanted to. Ace asked me if I would join Cyclonia. I said no. He pushed my head under the water in the barrel and held it there. The water was freezing, like ice. He only pulled me up when I was about to faint from lack of oxygen.

"The second time I hardly got a breath in. He asked me again, but I said no. Again, he only pulled me up just before I fainted. I lost count of how many times it happened. I hardly ever got to breathe before I was plunged back under. Finally, I passed out. They didn't let Matilda treat me. She argued with the Dark Ace and was thrown in my cell without any medicine. I was out for two days. She fed me and gave me water, going without it herself. After a while, I fell asleep. When I next woke up she was gone, and Piper and Radarr came through the door."

He looked up with a sigh, feeling a lot better, but he suspected that he had a fever and he was still shaking like mad. Piper had tears coursing down her cheeks, Radarr was huddled close to him, and it felt as though he was shaking but he couldn't tell if it was himself or Radarr. Finn, Junko and Stork seemed lost for words, staring at him with their mouths open. Starling, however, was wearing an odd expression as she looked at him: it was close to pity.

"You think I'm crazy?"

"I think you're like your father. He too was a noble git who would never give up even if he was about to die."

Aerrow was about to retort when Piper flung herself at him. Radarr only noticed at the last minute and he jumped off Aerrow's lap with a screech before he could be squashed. Her arms wrapped around him, careful of his broken arm and wounds, but still tight enough to convey the feeling of worry, sorrow, concern and relief. He felt his heart beat faster and hoped that she wouldn't notice.

"Oh, Aerrow," she said as she finally pulled away from him, "I'm so sorry!"

Aerrow rolled his eyes, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Piper. It's not your fault I'm a noble git like my father."

He wiped away her tears with a still shaking hand. She reached up and held it tightly. Aerrow could hear Finn making retching noises behind their back.

Piper smiled, ignoring Finn, and said, "You need some rest. You're shaking, and you've got a fever. Go to bed. I'll take care of things here."

He let go of her hand reluctantly and went to bed without complaining.

* * *

_Another chapter over. The next one will probably take a while... sorry about that. Hopefully it will also contain some action._

_Reviews will help me write quicker!!!_

_So please review!_

_Couldn't be bothered to find 'thank you' in a language that i haven't used yet, so - _

_Thank you!!!_


	7. And So it Begins

_And so the next chapter is up! A LOT of dialogue in this one, I think it pretty much is dialogue. Not as much action as I thought, but i promise there will be more next time. So that's about it._

_**Diehard: **Glad you liked the chapter. Happy New Year to you too! Thanks for the review, I'm glad to hear you're still enjoying my story._

_**Me loves jelly: **nawww, thanks, your review made me feel good. Yes, you caught me with the Harry Potter influence there. Sometimes the events in this story are so similar I just can't help it. Enjoy!_

_**Blue: **Yea, that chapter title was just an on-the-spot decision, a bit like this one really. I'm glad you thought it suited. Don't worry about your torture idea. Whisper came up with the pit, so you're on even terms. Update your story soon!_

_**delphigirl: **Yeah I agree. Thanks for the review and I hope I updated soon enough for you._

_**Amethyst: **I'm glad you like the Aerrow/Piper in this. I haven't had much experience so I hope I'm doing it ok. I'm sure Aerrow will be fine.. eventually. Enjoy the chapter!_

_**Whisper: **Well, you'll be happy to know that I'm back to my old antics... yes, cliffhangers. There's a nice one just for you at the end of this chapter. What a great person am I?? not._

_Thanks so much to all of my reviewers!!! Love you guys!_

**

* * *

Previously:**

Aerrow rolled his eyes, "You have nothing to be sorry for, Piper. It's not your fault I'm a noble git like my father."

He wiped away her tears with a still shaking hand. She reached up and held it tightly. Aerrow could hear Finn making retching noises behind their back.

Piper smiled, ignoring Finn, and said, "You need some rest. You're shaking, and you've got a fever. Go to bed. I'll take care of things here."

He let go of her hand reluctantly and went to bed without complaining.

**

* * *

Chapter 7: And So it Begins**

"Ohhh man! Have a look at this, Junko!"

"Finn, we really shouldn't be in here."

The voices were loud, but slightly fuzzy, and Aerrow faintly recognised them as they drew him from his deep slumber.

"Come on, stop being such a spoil sport."

"But Piper said not to!"

Aerrow groaned and turned over. He recognised the voices now, as Finn and Junko's, but he was still not awake enough to realise that they were coming from inside his room.

"Should we wake him?" asked Finn.

"No. Piper said to let him sleep."

"Yeah, but Piper's not here now, is she?"

This startled Aerrow. His heart skipped a beat when Finn mentioned that Piper wasn't on the Condor. That wasn't right. Piper was always on the Condor, and even if she left, she would always tell Aerrow where she was going.

"Don't you think he has the right to know where they've gone?" Finn pressed.

"Well, yeah. But-"

"And since he is our Sky Knight, he should have a say in this?"

"Yes, but-"

"So we should wake him up!"

"NO, Finn!" Junko's voice was loud and harsh, and Aerrow couldn't help but wonder how stupid the two were to think that he wouldn't wake up to their voices, when he had trained himself to wake at the slightest noise. "Piper _and_ Starling said to let him sleep," Junko continued.

"Yes, but that was right before they went on their oh-so-secret mission which they wouldn't tell us about at all!"

"Sorry, what?" Aerrow opened his eyes and sat up all in one motion. Mission? What mission? How come he didn't know about this?

"Aerrow! You're awake!" Finn said in such a fake voice that Aerrow assumed that Finn did not want him to be awake at all.

Aerrow dismissed the fakeness of Finn's voice, instead focussing on the details of the conversation he had overheard. Piper wasn't here. Neither was Starling. They were out on a secret mission that they had conveniently forgotten to tell anyone else about. And they had left while Aerrow was sleeping, which definitely meant something fishy was going on.

"Where's Piper?" he demanded.

Finn put his hands up in surrender. "Woah, dude. Take a chill pill."

"Finn," Aerrow growled, "where are they?"

At that moment Stork poked his head through the doorway, obviously about to tell Finn and Junko to get out of there. When he saw that Aerrow was awake, he rolled his eyes.

Oblivious to Stork's arrival, Finn answered Aerrow's question. "We don't know, do we? All Piper told us was to let you sleep-"

"Failed." Stork stated from the doorway, causing Finn to turn around in surprise then glare at him.

Ignoring the interruption, Finn continued. "Make sure you didn't find out about them going-"

"Also failed."

"Shut up, Stork. And if you, by any chance, found out about this-"

"Succeeded."

"-then, at all costs, we have to make sure that you do not go after them."

"About to fail," said Stork, noting that Aerrow was out of bed and getting changed into his uniform.

"Ah. Um, Aerrow? You-" started Finn.

"So let me get this straight-"

"WILL PEOPLE STOP INTERRUPTING ME AND LET ME TALK FOR ONCE!"

"Nup. Sorry Finn. So, let me get this straight," said Aerrow, who was now gathering his energy blade (note: one arm is still in a sling), "Piper and Starling have gone somewhere unknown on an unknown mission without telling anyone about it."

"Correct," came Stork's voice from the door.

Aerrow sighed. "Stork, I'm talking to myself, you don't have to answer."

"Right."

"They failed to tell me, the Sky Knight of this squadron, what they were planning. They left while I was asleep. They then told you guys not to wake me up and to keep this a secret from me."

"Which failed."

"Thank you, Stork. And they also said that in the event that I found out about this, you guys would have to prevent me from leaving to follow them."

"Yeah," came Finn's voice, "about that. Sorry about this, Aerrow, but we're going to have to-"

"So am I right in saying," Finn let out an exclamation at being interrupted again, "that Piper and Starling do not want me on this mission?"

"Um, yeah." Stork was rolling his eyes again, "I would have thought that was obvious."

"Oh, I know," came Junko's excited voice for the first time in ages, "they're preparing a surprise party for you! That has to be it! All this secrecy, it makes so much sense now!"

"Uh, Junko?" Finn replied, "Aerrow's birthday was ages ago, and we're near a Terra inhabited by Cyclonis and an ultimately Atmos-Destroying weapon. For once, I don't think it's the right time for a party."

"I don't believe it," Stork muttered. "Finn- no party? Definitely mind worms."

"DAMMIT!" The shout came from Junko, surprisingly.

"Junko, what's up?" Finn asked.

"I just ruined the surprise!"

"I thought we'd just figured out that there was no surprise party going on here."

"Oh, right. Forgot about that."

"I'm going after them." This came from Aerrow, who was striding purposefully towards the door with energy blade in hand.

…

Five minutes later, Aerrow was successfully tied to a chair on the bridge, Junko standing guard over him with his arms crossed and a few fresh bruises appearing on his arms. Stork was where he liked to be; at the controls, muttering his surprise that they actually did something right for once. Finn was standing by the door, twirling Aerrow's energy blade around in his hand ("Man, I've always wanted to do this!").

Aerrow was frustrated. Firstly because Piper and Starling hadn't let him in on this mission, and secondly because he had failed to escape and go after them. He was now tied up, unable to move at all. He wished that Junko would just untie him, so that he could let out some of his frustration by pacing up and down the bridge. At least then he could use up some of his built up energy.

The radio crackled: someone was trying to talk to them.

Aerrow growled, "Untie me, Junko. Now."

Junko hurried to do as he was told. He didn't want to get on Aerrow's bad side when he was angry.

As soon as the ropes slid off him, Aerrow stood and made his way over to the radio.

"Piper? Starling? You there?"

Piper's voice came through, "Aerrow? What are you doing up?"

"Where are you, Piper?"

"Did Finn wake you up?" Finn scoffed in the background.

"Why don't I know about this mission?"

"Urgh. They told you, didn't they?"

"What are you doing?"

"Oh, for Christ's sake!" This was Starling, interrupting, "Will you two cut it out? Look, we're fine, and we're coming back now. We'll answer your questions when we get back, ok?"

"Fine, but-"

"Aerrow, go back to-" the transmission cut out suddenly.

"Go back to what?" Finn asked.

"I dunno, the radio cut out," Aerrow answered. "You don't think something's wrong, do you?"

"Nah, probably just bad reception. Don't worry about it."

Nevertheless, Aerrow was tense. He paced up and down the bridge while the others went back to their jobs, unworried. Finally he heard the sound of a skimmer entering the hangar. He pretty much ran to the door, and was met with the pale face of Starling.

"Starling, what happened? Where's Piper?" Aerrow asked, when he noticed that Piper's heliscooter was nowhere in sight.

"We were ambushed. There were so many of them, all we could do was get out of there. I thought she was following me but when I turned around she wasn't there. There was no one in sight."

* * *

_Yep, so not as long as some of the other ones, but I'm not going to promise that the next one will be longer cause I haven't started writing it and if I made it longer then that would mean it would take me longer to update._

_So, your choice... longer chapter or longer update... i'm not picky._

_Pretty please with a cherry on top review! Just press that button down there..._

_Grazie!_


	8. Captured

_Ok, I'll start with this. I'm sorry. I had completely forgotten that I'm going away tomorrow (at 4am mind you) for 5 days. So, this is the last update you'll see for a while, seeing as i haven't even started on the next one. Also, the next few weeks are going to be really busy, so not much updating will be going on. I'll try to write whenever I can, though._

_But you guys should be pleased with me. When I realised that i was going away, i only had 2 days to write this, but one was really busy, so this is the product of one days hard work. sorry if it sucks. anyway, there will be more action next chapter.. promise!!_

_**Amethyst: **you really should have seen that coming, it is in the summary, by the way. thanks for the support. and i tried to update fast, i really did._

_**Blue: **i'll try to put more of Finn getting yelled at in the later chapters for you. there is a bit more in this one, so enjoy! i don't think Aerrow's going to get more rest and i really don't think Piper is going to escape on her own, so Stork is right on this one._

_**Whisper: **glad you liked it. its always nice to read my own writing again. I don't think Aerrow's furious at Piper any more though. Maybe later. Sorry about the long wait for the next chapter/s._

_**me loves jelly: **you are awesome too. your reviews make me smile. although you should have known that Piper was going to go cause it was in the summary. i'm glad you can picture some of this in the show, cause its the kind of idea i'm aiming for. enjoy the chapter!_

_**Diehard: **i think Finn's in more trouble from Piper than Aerrow.. not sure yet. Anyway, Piper will be fine... eventually. Thanks for the review, as usual!_

_**SkyDragonQueen: **glad you like the plot. Aerrow having troubles is my cup of tea as well.. obviously. Enjoy the chapter and thanks for the review!_

_**Sapphearceskyy: **Yes, Piper's gone... as it said in the summary. Yes, Aerrow will rescue her. As you said, he has to. I'm glad you liked Junko and Stork, it made me laugh too, and I wrote it. Is that weird? Don't worry, i say lol a lot as well. Thanks so much for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter._

_**delphigirl: **Well, you got your wish. This is what happened to Piper, but not the full story.. you'll have to wait for that. Enjoy!_

_Thanks to my record number of reviewers for this fic! You are all awesome!!!! ;)_

**

* * *

Previously:**

"Starling, what happened? Where's Piper?" Aerrow asked, when he noticed that Piper's heliscooter was nowhere in sight.

"We were ambushed. There were so many of them, all we could do was get out of there. I thought she was following me but when I turned around she wasn't there. There was no one in sight.

**

* * *

Chapter 8: Captured**

_30 minutes before.._

The sky was a clear blue, dappled by the occasional fluffy white cloud. Every few minutes a bird would fly past, spreading its wings to catch the wafting breeze. Unfortunately, the beauty of the sky above Terra Canyonas was lost on the two women who were currently scanning the barren, clay coloured landscape below.

Piper and Starling had been searching the terra for signs of Cyclonian activity for a few hours, and still had not found the location of the cave, nor, for that matter, any signs of life at all. However, their luck changed as they rounded a bend in the canyon they were currently flying through. At one side of the canyon, right at the bottom, were two large piles of rocks on either side of a dark space in the cliff. It was just possible to see two dark shapes from a distance, which she supposed were Talons. Piper heard Starling draw breath beside her, and then a sharp, "Follow me!" came from her companion.

Piper followed Starling to the top of the canyon on the opposite side to the cave. Here they got off their skimmers and lay down on the edge of the cliff so that they could get a closer look at the cave with little chance of being seen. From closer up, Piper could now see that the two silhouettes on either side of the cave were indeed Talons. They were both quite inattentive, obviously bored of the lack of life on the terra. Piper and Starling watched in silence for a while, before Starling signalled to Piper to go back to their skimmers.

"Well, it doesn't seem as if much is going on at the moment, does it?" Starling asked.

"No, both the Talons looked really bored, and I doubt that if anything even mildly interesting was going on, they would at least look more attentive."

"I agree. Shall we go, then?"

"Yeah, probably," Piper replied. "Although we should radio the Condor to tell them we're on our way. Someone might be getting worried."

Piper had encountered a problem just as she and Starling were about to leave the Condor late that night: who to put in charge? Finn was the only one with experience, although she didn't even have to remember correctly to know that it had been a complete disaster. However, she doubted Junko and Stork's ability to control Finn's mad ravings. That had left Radarr. After thinking about it for a while, she decided she had made the right choice. Although he couldn't talk, in English anyway, he had good ideas and a strong will, which meant he could control Finn. However, when she had confronted Radarr with the idea, he had refused, saying (or conveying) that he had better things to do than baby-sit Finn all day. Piper couldn't argue, because she agreed with him wholeheartedly.

Therefore, she had been left with leaving all three of them in charge, with the hopes that Stork and Junko would be able to keep their cool in a crisis. She left them with three specific instructions. The first was to let Aerrow sleep. He was always considerably weaker after one of his 'episodes' and so Piper presumed that he would sleep for at least 12 hours. That was easily enough time for her and Starling to get back without him noticing they were gong – which was crucial. Anyway, he needed the rest.

The second rule was that, if he did wake up, he could not find out that they were gone. This rule should have been pretty easy to follow, because she had been careful not to tell them where they were going. And if Aerrow stayed asleep as she predicted, then they would have nothing to worry about at all.

The final rule was the most important. If (heaven forbid) they managed to stuff up the first two rules, and Aerrow found out about their disappearance, then they had to prevent him from going after them. Firstly, he wouldn't know where to go, and secondly, he would be too weak to be useful at all and would probably get himself into trouble.

So she had left them with these three clear rules that should have been easy enough to follow. But she couldn't be sure. That was another reason why she was radioing the Condor.

Piper switched on the radio, and tried to get through to the Condor, but there was no response. "I don't think there's any reception here," she informed Starling.

"That's ok. We'll just talk to them while we're flying," Starling said as she mounted her skimmer.

They both took off, careful to keep out of the way of the prying eyes of the Talon guards. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch. As they were nearing the edge of the terra, a voice came over the radio.

"Piper? Starling? You there?"

It was Aerrow. Piper felt a bubble of annoyance at Finn (as it was obviously him who had woken Aerrow). "Aerrow? What are you doing up?"

"Where are you, Piper?"

She ignored the question. He didn't need to know where she was. "Did Finn wake you up?" She could hear Finn scoff in the background, which meant that he did indeed wake Aerrow up.

"Why don't I know about this mission?"

His question made it obvious. They had either told him or he had somehow found out. "Urgh. They told you, didn't they?"

"What are you doing?"

Starling was getting sick of the conversation made of questions that was getting nowhere at all. So naturally, she interrupted. "Oh, for Christ's sake! Will you two cut it out? Look, we're fine, and we're coming back now. We'll answer your questions when we get back, ok?"

"Fine, but-"

At least Aerrow knew they were fine and wouldn't come after them now. He needed to get some more rest. "Aerrow, go back to-"

They were surrounded so suddenly that she didn't get to finish her sentence. About twenty talons came out of nowhere, their weapons in their hands. Somehow, they had found out that Piper and Starling were there. They needed to get back to the Condor – and fast.

Starling swooped by her still heliscooter, shouting, "Follow me!" She then took out one Talon with her nunchucks, creating a break in the circle. Piper hurried to follow. The talons were caught by surprise, but soon set off in pursuit. It was a high-speed chase, dodging blasts of energy from their weapons. Unfortunately, her heliscooter wasn't built for speed, and Starling kept getting further and further ahead, until she could hardly be seen. Piper didn't want to look behind her, but she knew that if she did, she would see that the talons were getting closer.

All of a sudden, a blast of energy from a Cyclonian staff cut the blades off the top of her heliscooter. Without the means to keep it in the air, her scooter plunged towards the earth. She fumbled frantically for her parachute, then, in a moment of piercing clarity, she remembered that she hadn't packed it this morning, because she had wanted to keep her bag as light as possible. The ground (and her death) drawing nearer every second, she tried to stay calm. She screamed.

She was near metres from the ground when a hand grabbed the back of her collar and lifted her from her heliscooter. The uniform began to choke her, but she didn't care. She was alive. She looked up at her rescuer, hoping to see Starling, or (her heart beat frantically at the thought) Aerrow. But it was merely a Talon, and she saw the staff he was holding heading towards her head at frightening speed before everything went black.

***

_Presently.._

Aerrow was pacing, again. As soon as he had found out about Piper's (assumed) capture, he had called the others and told them to get their gear. He was just waiting for Finn, and then they would go. The sooner Piper was out of there, the better.

Currently, he wasn't thinking about where she was most likely being held: at the end of a long, small and dark tunnel. He didn't really mind that she would be in the same room as Cyclonis, the Dark Ace and a very destructive weapon. He could handle that. Getting there would be the main problem. But he'd have his team at his side, and Piper in his head. He would be fine.

Finally Finn came, but to the dismay of everyone he had brought his guitar. They tried to make him put it back in his room. But he argued his point.

"Don't you remember it saving our lives at Polaris Pointe?" he argued.

"Clearly," said Starling as she winced.

"Unfortunately," said Stork, "My ears are still ringing."

Aerrow huffed. "Look, the longer we argue, the longer Piper is stuck in there. Finn, just put it in your room. We won't need it. Hurry up."

Finn shuffled off to his room with the guitar.

He was back soon enough, and Aerrow patted him on the back to cheer him up. The walked into the hanger and got on their skimmers.

"Right team, lets fly!"

* * *

_Ok, lame ending, sorry, couldn't help it. Have to go to bed soon, cause i'm getting up at 3 or some stupid time like that._

_Please review guys.. I'm sorry the update will be a while but if I get back and see all these reviews then i really will want to update faster._

_Love you all!_

_Ali xox_


	9. Hurdles

_Hi! So sorry about the wait! But take a look at this chapter - over 3000 words! One of my longest ever, and definitely the longest of this story. I'm hoping this will carry you through for a few days cause I'm going on a camp for 3 nights tomorrow and won't be able to write till i get back. Then there's school.. gah. Anyway, please enjoy!_

_**me loves jelly: **Thanks again. I did have a good trip. Yes, I know the last chapter was short, and not really up to my usual standard, so hopefully this longer one will make up for that. :)_

_**delphigirl: **I updated as soon as i could.. sorry for the wait. I promise i will try to get to the rescue next chapter. I hope this chapter is as good as you hoped it would be. Thanks!_

_**Midnight-Rose-Dew:** I didn't think about explaining the talons finding them, but your review gave me an idea so its explained in this chapter. I don't think Aerrow would let Piper lock Finn in his room, but I'm sure Stork would help her. Yep, Finn's never going to let the guitar thing go.. ah well. Thanks for the review!_

_**Whisper: **yeah, it's true that it wouldn't be SH if 'let's fly' wasn't in there, and I'm glad you enjoyed the guitar bit.. it was just a spur of the moment thing, like most of my ideas are, really. Thanks so much for the review, I hope Finn's not annoying you too much._

_**Amethyst: **yeah, i was catching a plane, sadly i'm not crazy enough to get up at 3. Piper might be ok.. i still have to decide on that one... Enjoy the chapter!_

_**Sapphearceskyy:** don't worry, heaps of people forgot about the summary.. it was quite amusing really. I updated as soon as I could with an extra long one, I hope you like!!_

_**Blue:** I have no idea why my dad booked a plane that left at 5am.. tell you what, I'm not getting up at 3 again any time soon. I was seriously falling asleep before dinner time. I actually don't know why Finn would risk his guitar on his skimmer.. he's crazy like that sometimes. And sorry, but I don't think he'll bring it along anyway... although.. *lightbulb* .. yeah, maybe he will. You'll have to see.._

**

* * *

Previously: **

_Piper –_

She was near metres from the ground when a hand grabbed the back of her collar and lifted her from her heliscooter. The uniform began to choke her, but she didn't care. She was alive. She looked up at her rescuer, hoping to see Starling, or (her heart beat frantically at the thought) Aerrow. But it was merely a Talon, and she saw the staff he was holding heading towards her head at frightening speed before everything went black.

_Aerrow –_

Aerrow huffed. "Look, the longer we argue, the longer Piper is stuck in there. Finn, just put it in your room. We won't need it. Hurry up."

Finn shuffled off to his room with the guitar.

He was back soon enough, and Aerrow patted him on the back to cheer him up. The walked into the hanger and got on their skimmers.

"Right team, lets fly!"

**

* * *

Chapter 9: Hurdles**

_Piper_

Piper came back to consciousness slowly. Her head throbbed. She had no idea what was going on, her only thought being an ice pack for her aching head. She went to open her eyes, but a niggle in her brain told her not to do it. Only seconds later, the memories came rushing back – setting out with Starling, the radio call, ambushed, falling… she shuddered. That definitely wasn't an experience she wanted to go through again.

Thanking the niggle in her brain profusely while keeping her eyes tightly closed, she listened to the sounds around her. She was trying to discern the details of her environment without alerting anyone who might be there of her conscious presence. There was a continuous whirring sound behind her and slightly to her left. The sound also echoed, making her assume that she was in the cave, or at least a closed in space somewhere. The whirring noise was quite loud, but once she was familiar with the sound, she could almost ignore it and listen for others. Far behind her, to the right, was what sounded like a trickle of water – a waterfall perhaps? It wasn't unlikely, as she knew that there were often underground rivers or creeks that could easily have made their path over the cave.

And then – there was something else. Almost so quite that she had dismissed the sound as a part of the whirring noise behind her. But – there it was again – a bit louder this time. It was unmistakably the sound of murmuring voices. So she wasn't alone, as she had initially thought. Of course, she hadn't expected to be alone at all, seeing as she was almost certainly in the hands of Cyclonians. Surprisingly, the realisation that she was being held captive by Cyclonia didn't scare her as much as she thought it would have after hearing Aerrow's story.

The murmur's got louder, and she realised that she could discern the words sometimes – when the wind caught the conversation and blew it towards her.

"… almost ready …"

"… wait … Storm Hawks … revenge …"

The voices were almost certainly male and female, which led Piper to believe that it was the Dark Ace and Cyclonis she was hearing. But the words didn't make any sense. The Dark Ace's did, of course. He would want revenge on the Strom Hawks for them helping Aerrow to escape his clutches. Piper smirked when she thought about how (un)happy Cyclonis must have been when he told her about the Storm Hawks thwarting her plans again. She only just managed to stifle a chuckle. But.. he had also said "wait" in response to Cyclonis' "almost ready." What were they talking about? What was almost ready?

Her brain was obviously still recovering from the hit it had received earlier. It took her at least five minutes of intense thought to put the pieces together; Starling's escape story, Talons on Terra Canyonas, the mission, the plan of the cave and the whirring noise behind her.

"The weapon," she whispered to herself in shock as she opened her eyes and saw the place she was being held captive for the first time.

The size of the cave made her gasp aloud. It was massive. The top of the cave would have easily been fifty metres above the ground at its highest point. As for the ground, well, lets say you could easily fit three football fields inside it, four at a stretch. It left her speechless, not that she was planning on speaking any time soon. While in her speechless state, she looked more closely at her surroundings. She was in a sort of cage, suspended from the ceiling about ten metres above the ground. It wasn't uncomfortable, though, and she had quite a lot of room to move around.

Her gasp must have alerted the two Cyclonians to her presence, as they had both turned towards her. Piper observed as Cyclonis clapped twice and the cage lowered slowly to the ground. She stood up at faced the two as they smirked at her.

"Piper. How nice to see you here," Cyclonis said.

"I'd say it was nice to be here but that would be lying," Piper replied.

Cyclonis raised her eyebrows – a look that clearly said 'Oh, really?' "But I thought that you wanted to be here, the way you were spying on us earlier."

It was then that Piper remembered they were ambushed. "How did you find out we were here?" This time she was genuinely curious.

Cyclonis seemed happy that she could show of her cleverness. "I'm glad you asked, Piper. I supposed you've heard of a sensory crystal?"

Piper was confused. Sensory crystal? She'd never heard of it, and that was unusual seeing as she knew practically every crystal ever discovered.

"No? Oh, that's right. It's because I created it myself! Here, I'll show you," she said, pulling a mustard yellow coloured crystal from her pocket.

Piper was sure that if Finn were here he would be hypocritical (as usual) and say, 'What a show off!' Piper agreed with him (or the Finn in her head), for once.

"Want to know how it works?" Cyclonis continued, "Of course you do. Well, it covers a zone of 100 square metres, and if someone enters that zone, the crystal in my pocket heats up. I haven't perfected it yet, so it alerts me if anyone at all enters, but eventually I will alter it so that it can only sense enemies. Unfortunately for you and that interceptor, I wasn't expecting anyone today. So imagine what a surprise I get when the crystal in my pocket heats up! Of course, I waited until you had stopped watching the cave before I alerted my Talons. I told them to kill the interceptor and bring you back, but I suppose one out of two isn't too bad. Better than the Dark Ace most of the time."

The Dark Ace glared at Cyclonis but didn't say anything, obviously still too embarrassed about Aerrow's escape to defend himself.

Piper would have laughed, but the timing wasn't really ideal. She would have to wait for a more appropriate time when she was back at the Condor. Then they could all spend a few laughs for the Dark Ace's sake.

"Why do you want me?" she asked.

"Ooh, we are full of good questions today, aren't we, Piper? It is one of my more fantastic plans, if I may say so myself. You see, by capturing you, I ensure that the rest of the Storm Hawks will try to rescue you. You are far too predictable. Anyway, when they come – which they will, they will, hopefully all be destroyed by my Talons and the Dark Ace."

"You've tried that so many times and obviously you've failed. What makes you think it will work this time?" Piper asked.

"Oh, I don't think it will. No, unfortunately you are much too good for that. My weapon is the key."

The weapon. Piper had completely forgotten about it. How could she be so stupid? She swivelled around so fast that she almost fell over. After regaining her balance, she looked up at the massive device. It was almost as tall as the ceiling, which explained why they needed such a huge cave. It was shaped sort of like a rocket, except it got wider in the middle instead of staying cylindrical shaped. It was bright Cyclonian red, with crackles of different coloured crystal energy surrounding it. It was practically radiating power.

"That's the second biggest weapon I've ever seen*." Piper commented, trying to keep her face straight.

Cyclonis' face flickered into a look of fury for a second, before becoming blank like a slate. The Dark Ace smirked behind her back.

Cyclonis ignored Piper's comment, "It's called the Cyclonian Ultra Powerful Crystal Powered Massively Powerful Terra and Enemy Destroyer. Or the CUPCPMPTED for short."

"I guess it's powerful," Piper commented sarcastically.

The Dark Ace spoke for the first time. "I call it the Nut Cracker."

"The Nut Cracker?" Piper asked, confused as to why it would be named as such.

"Well, it really should be Rock Cracker, or Terra Cracker, but the Dark Ace thought Nut Cracker was more appropriate." Cyclonis explained.

"I don't get it," said Piper.

"The CUPCPMPTED destroys Terras by cracking the support crystals in half. (A/N: I have no idea how they float but got this idea from Terra Cyclonia in the last episode.) Without the crystals, the Terra falls into the wastelands."

Piper thought for a moment. Another snippet of information fell into place. "The landslides happening here weren't just a coincidence, were they?"

"Oh very clever, Piper. If you weren't so annoying I'd try to recruit you."

Piper rolled her eyes. "I still don't get it, though. I mean, I get 'Rock Cracker', but why 'Nut Cracker'?"

"The Dark Ace named it so because it can be focussed on people as well as Terras." (Sorry I just had to put it in there)

Piper rolled her eyes again. "Right." It was amazing that even the Dark Ace acted like Finn sometimes.

"So back to where we were before," Cyclonis continued, "the CUPCPMPTED is the key to the defeat of the Storm Hawks. You won't be able to stop it from destroying your teammates, yourself and anyone else who defies me, Piper."

"Aerrow knows where it is. He'll come." She said defiantly.

The Dark Ace laughed. "Oh, I don't think Aerrow's going to get close. The tunnel leading to this cave is a kilometre long. Every step he takes in there is going to fuel his fear of the dark and of confined spaces. I'll be surprised if he makes five metres. If he doesn't go insane – which is unlikely, then it's probable that the defence mechanisms in the tunnel will kill him or at least injure him somewhat. So all in all, Piper, there's a 99.9% chance that he's not going to make it. Have fun waiting."

He and Cyclonis laughed, before Cyclonis clapped twice and the cage was hoisted back into the air. Piper sat down on the floor of the cage dejectedly. She pulled her knees up to her chest and started sobbing silently.

Then, in a moment of hope, she whispered into nothing, "0.1% means it's still possible, Aerrow. I believe in you."

*

_Aerrow_

They made it to Terra Canyonas without a hitch. Everyone was silent, focussing on the task ahead. Starling pointed out the cliff where she and Piper had stopped before to spy on the entrance to the cave. The group of four skimmers skidded to a halt where Piper and Starling had been lying down a few hours earlier.

"Alright team. This is it. They've got Piper. They also have a very destructive weapon. But we're the Storm Hawks, we can take them!" Aerrow said, trying to inspire his team.

"Yeah!" said Junko, punching the air with his fist.

"Finn, Junko – you guys are the distraction. The Talons will come out in a minute, you've got to take as many down as possible while Starling and I go in and get Piper, ok?"

"Just leave it to the Finnster, Aerrow. There'll be no problems here," Finn said, doing his 'Chica Cha' fingers.

"Radarr, you stay with Finn. We can't have him loosing his bike today," Aerrow said, looking at his co-pilot.

Radarr pouted, but did as he was told. Finn really did need his help, anyway. He hopped on the front of Finn's skimmer and took over the steering, ignoring the protests from the blond-haired boy behind him.

"Ok. Here they come," Aerrow said as he spotted Talons flying out of the cave on their skimmers, "Good luck guys. We'll see you when we get out of there."

Junko gave Aerrow and Starling the thumbs up, and then he and Finn flew off to meet the oncoming Talons.

"Let's go, Starling."

He and Starling revved their skimmers and took off, also into the fight. The plan was that they would take down a few Talons and then make their way into the cave. It was a bit tricky for Aerrow, who had to drive one-handed, but he had taken the sling off his broken arm so that he could at least hold an energy blade in it. It was at this time that he really missed Radarr's driving, but Finn really did need his help, and Aerrow could last a few minutes by himself.

He looked up and saw that three Talons were coming his way, in a straight line. He smirked. Far too easy. They each took out their staffs and tried to look menacing. His grin widened. He lit up the energy blade in his broken arm. If all went well, he wouldn't have to use it, but he had to keep up pretences. The two Talons on the outside went a bit faster so that they were ahead of the Talon directly in front of him. They were advancing fast. They were closing in on him, planning to crush his skimmer with their three. At the last minute, Aerrow put on a burst of speed and pulled the skimmer directly upwards. The Cyclonian skimmers had no time to stop and collided with each other, sending the riders directly en route to the ground.

"Nice one, Aerrow!" Starling yelled, "Should we go now?"

"Sure," Aerrow replied. It was only at the last minute that he saw a Talon advancing behind Starling. He tried to yell a warning, "Starling! Look out!"

But it was too late. The burst of energy from the Cyclonian staff connected with her skimmer and sent it hurling towards the ground. Aerrow sped after it, trying to catch Starling before she hit the ground. He urged his skimmer to go faster but she was too far away. Her skimmer crashed to the ground with a sickening thud, and Starling lay unmoving on top.

"Starling!" Aerrow yelled in distress. He landed next to the remains of her skimmer and ran over to the prone figure on top, yelling her name. Thankfully, the Talons were too absorbed in the fight above to attack the two on the ground. After a minute, Starling groaned and opened her eyes.

"Starling," Aerrow said with relief, "Are you ok?"

"Get this thing off my leg," she said through gritted teeth.

With Starling's help, Aerrow managed to lift the skimmer off her leg. It was lying at an odd angle, and without examining it he could tell that it was definitely broken. Starling grasped her leg in pain, gritting her teeth. Aerrow made a split second decision.

"Starling, I'm going to lift you up and take you to the entrance of the cave. You'll be out of sight of the Cyclonians there. Finn and Junko will find you when the battle's over."

"But I'm meant to come with you, Aerrow. You need my help."

"Not in this state I don't. Come on, let's get you out of here."

He had planned to carry her in a fireman's lift, but soon found that she was too heavy (he refused to think that he was too weak), and so she limped beside him and he carried most of her weight. By the time they got to the cave they were both exhausted. Aerrow set her down slowly so that she was sitting with her back against the side of the cave.

"Alright. Now, you stay here till I come back with Piper or till Finn and Junko come to get you. Got it?" he said.

"Aerrow-" she looked like she was going to scold him, but then her expression turned into concern, "be careful down there."

"You know me, Starling, I'm always careful," he responded.

She looked at him with an I-don't-believe-you look, and then said, "It's pitch black down there, and we forgot torches."

"I can handle it," said Aerrow, trying to look unfazed, when really his nerves were doing an 'oh crap' dance inside him.

She gave him 'the look' again. "I know you can do it, Aerrow. It will be the hardest thing you've ever done in your life. You'll be facing your fears without someone beside you. But when you're in trouble, just think of Piper. Your love for her will get you through. I believe in you."

Aerrow didn't even deny the part about him loving Piper. He was scared, and he just wanted to crumple into a ball and sob. Instead he stood tall, nodded to Starling, and took his first step towards Piper.

* * *

_*A quote I got from Get Smart (ie. I don't own!!)_

_I'm so proud of myself.. I wrote this in like 2 hours. Although that might explain if its of poor quality._

_So... Aerrow's going down there.. I wonder what's going to happen. I really have no idea cause i haven't started writing it yet. If you want, you can suggest something, otherwise your stuck with my crazy ideas._

_Please review and I'll try to do another extra long chapter!_

_Luv yous all._


	10. One More Step

_I am **so** sorry about how long it took to update, but the truth is that I had school camp and then this chapter was just so so hard to write. Please try to be understanding. I hope this turned out ok. It's pretty long, my second longest so far, but still not sure about the quality._

_Going back to school in two days, so updates will get slower. Thankfully there's not many chapters left._

_**Midnight-Rose-Dew: **the quote about the weapon being the second biggest Piper had seen was from Get Smart. It's basically meant to downplay the object and the person who built it by saying its the second biggest... just so they don't feel as good. does that make sense? Yes, sorry about the Nut Cracker, but i just had to put it in. Enjoy the chapter!_

_**Sapphearceskyy: **Thanks. You just reminded me to put Radarr into this chapter. I almost left him out.. poor thing. Yes, Piper has a lot of hope, but Aerrow has got out of some pretty crazy things before, so who knows? And everyone knows that Aerrow is stubborn. Heheh.. yes, i forgot they were mountain tops.. damn. Well Terra Gale sorta looked like it was floating in the pictures. I might change the chapter later, but for now I'll just leave it. Thanks for the review!_

_**delphigirl: **Well lots of AerrowxPiper in here for you. Actually almost too much for me to handle, but i got through. I'm glad you're enjoying the story and I hope this chapter's ok._

**_me loves jelly: _**_thanks for the compliments, but i'm not sure i deserve them. I made you wait far too long. ah well.. not much i can do about it now. Enjoy!_

**_Amethyst:_**_ No, I couldn't make it easy. I never make it easy for Aerrow, poor thing. I went to Sydney for my trip, and then just this week I went on a school camp. That's about it. Thanks for the review!!_

**_Whisper:_**_ Thanks for the thing about the Terras... i actually forgot *facepalms*.. I can't believe that i did when it actually says it in the introduction. Ah well. I might change it later but for now its not too important to the story so i'll just leave it. I did have that idea before you gave it to me, but you can have the credit if you want. Sorry if you're not a great fan of pairings, cause there's a lot in here... i don't even like this much and i'm writing it. I promise to tone it down a bit in the next chapters._

**_Invader Lana:_**_ Yay! Glad you love the story! Thanks so much for the review, i love hearing from new people! Enjoy this chapter!_

**_Blue:_**_ Heheh. Yeah i did keep thinking of the ballet version of the Nut Cracker. Maybe it makes it sound a bit less immature?? Nah, i don't think so. Damn. Hope you enjoy this chapter!_

**

* * *

Previously:**

Starling gave him 'the look' again. "I know you can do it, Aerrow. It will be the hardest thing you've ever done in your life. You'll be facing your fears without someone beside you. But when you're in trouble, just think of Piper. Your love for her will get you through. I believe in you."

Aerrow didn't even deny the part about him loving Piper. He was scared, and he just wanted to crumple into a ball and sob. Instead he stood tall, nodded to Starling, and took his first step towards Piper.

**Chapter 10: One More Step**

Aerrow walked away from Starling quickly. He didn't want her to know that he was scared out of his mind. Although, he could swear his heart was beating so loudly that she could hear it anyway. It seemed to echo off the cave walls so that it surrounded him. It was both nerve-wracking and strangely comforting at the same time. Don't ask how, it's just how he felt.

He was so focussed on getting away from Starling that he hardly noticed the light from the entrance to the cave getting further and further behind him until it was too late. He turned and saw only a pinprick of light in the distance, and even then he wasn't sure if it was from one of the torches that was mounted on the walls of the cave. If it was possible, his heart rate picked up a notch. He was on his own.

He took a deep breath and sat down next to the wall to collect himself. As his heart rate lowered slowly, he looked at his surroundings. The steep decline, which he had just descended, rose above him as he again looked towards the entrance. Both sides of the cave were lined with flaming torches that cast an eerie, flickering light around the cave, which accentuated the cracks and crevices in the rock. Insects scurried from shadow to shadow, making their way away from the entrance to…

He shuddered as he looked towards his destination. The ceiling sloped downwards steeply so that the result was a tunnel about a metre in height. Pitch-blackness met his gaze. He remembered Starling's words from earlier.

"_Once we're inside, there's a steep decline until we are about 100 metres in. I suspect that the Cyclonians will have the cave lit and guards posted up to this point so that any intruders can be taken out before they get too close."_

Well, he must have reached the 100-metre mark. Thankfully the fight outside must have drawn out the guards that were posted. He realised that he was sitting directly in line with the last torch on the wall. He stood up slowly, still trying to calm his breathing, which had again reached a feverish rate. He reached out a shaking hand and tried to take the torch of the wall. It wouldn't budge.

He growled. He wouldn't give in that easily. He took out his energy blade, feeling its comforting weight in his hand. A blast of light later and the torch had toppled to the ground, distinguishing the flame in the process. Aerrow put his energy blade in the case on his back, and then bent to retrieve the torch. He was glad he had taken the sling off his broken arm, as he could now hold the torch in that hand, leaving the other free for other activity. He walked to another torch and used that flame to light the one in his hand.

He took a final calming breath, crouched low so that he wouldn't scrape his head on the ceiling, and stepped into the darkness. The light from the flame only carried to about two metres in front of him, so Aerrow couldn't see far ahead. However, he remembered from Starling's speech her warning about defence mechanisms likely to be in the tunnel, and so drew and lit his energy blade, keeping a close eye on anything in sight.

He took a few faltering steps forward with his back scraping the ceiling before he decided to go on his hands and knees. It would make him a lot slower to react to something, but he figured that Cyclonis could have easily put something on the ceiling, which would hinder his progress. He tried to focus on the flame of the torch to avoid noticing the low ceilings and darkness surrounding him.

Suddenly, a small waterfall of water cascaded over him, engulfing the flame and sending the tunnel into blackness once more, except for a faint light coming from behind. Reacting immediately, he spun around (as fast has he could on hands and knees) to face the entrance to the tunnel, where he could escape back into the brightly lit cave. However, he was too late, because some sort of metal door slammed into the ground, blocking off the passage and sending the tunnel into pitch-blackness.

Aerrow's heart leapt. His breathing became shallow. His eyes darted around, not seeing. He reached a shaking hand to his forehead and wiped sopping wet hair out of his eyes, hoping it would enable him to see something. It didn't. He could swear the walls were closing in on him. He could feel it. They were coming. He was going to be squashed to death, and he'd never see Piper again…

Piper. Her face filled his mind, and his breathing eased. Slightly. She was there, at the end of this tunnel. He was the only one that could save her. He had to make it, for her. He closed his eyes, letting Piper's features fill his mind again. He imagined that she was right in front of him, just one step away. Just one step. He crawled forwards. One step. He crawled forwards again. One more step, and he was there-

CRASH!

Aerrow panicked, opening his eyes and bringing himself back to reality. He reached for his energy blade, but as he brought his arm up, it hit the same thing his face had crashed into moments before. His heart beating at a thousand miles an hour, he placed his palm on the object in front of him. Cool metal met sweaty fingers. Aerrow almost hit his head on the metal again. He had forgotten to turn around and was back at the entrance to the tunnel. He had gone a whole… three steps further than what he had to.

Thinking more rationally this time, he kept his eyes open as he turned around. Although it made him panic more, he might at least be able to see the flashing light of a trap or weapon in his road. He didn't need to close his eyes to see Piper's face. It was etched into his mind. Once again, he took a deep breath, and crawled forwards. One metre down, 999 to go.

*

Meanwhile, Finn, Radarr and Junko had taken down the last Talon. They high-fived, and then headed over to the mouth of the cave, where they had seen Aerrow take Starling earlier.

"Sup, Starling?" said Finn. Radarr frowned at him and put his hands on his hips.

"How's your leg?" Junko asked, which was a bit more of a considerate question.

"I'll live," Starling replied.

"Don't worry. I will be your knight in shining armour!" Finn said whilst holding up an imaginary sword.

"More like a loser in aluminium," Starling said, with a smirk on her face. Radarr laughed (well, chirped).

Finn pouted and crossed his arms. "Fine, Junko can carry you to the Condor then. I can tell when I'm not wanted."

"Could have fooled me," Starling replied, and she, Radarr and Junko burst out laughing whilst Finn stomped back to the Condor in a hissy fit.

Junko chuckled and picked up Starling gently, then the three followed Finn back to the Condor.

*

Aerrow breathed deeply, again. It seemed like it was the only thing he was doing while he was in the tunnel, but then he remembered that the only reason why he was breathing deeply was that he had started hyperventilating far too many times. He looked around him once again, hoping that his eyes had adjusted and that he would be able to see something, but there was obviously no light getting into the tunnel at all.

Because he was relying so much on his other senses, he was able to hear the slight fizzing sound as soon as it started. Shifting slightly on his hands and knees so that he was closer to the side of the tunnel it was coming from, he put his face close to the wall. He immediately pulled back, dizzy. There was some sort of sweet-smelling gas coming from the side of the tunnel. Due to the fact that just a small whiff of it had made him dizzy, he deduced that if he got a whole lungful of it he would be knocked unconscious and then possibly even killed.

He moved back slightly, before testing the air and taking a deep breath. Then he crawled quickly through the tunnel, while trying to conserve energy. The fizzing sound continued to buzz in his ear, meaning that the gas was still being released next to him, even though he had already travelled about ten metres. After another few seconds, he had run out of air and needed to breathe, but he could still hear the gas coming from the wall. He closed his eyes and crawled faster.

He remembered another time when his chest had felt like this. The memory contained a tub of ice-cold water and a sneering Dark Ace standing above him. Despite the bad memory, Aerrow smiled. How many times had he had to hold his breath until he fainted then? He couldn't remember, but he'd had a lot of practice at this. And so it was, that even with his lungs convulsing, trying to get air into them, and blackness swirling in his vision, that Aerrow continued to crawl. A few seconds later, through the buzzing in his head, he heard it. Silence. He crawled for a few more seconds, anxious to get out of the gas, and just as he thought he was going to faint, he collapsed on the ground and drank in the fresh air.

He lay there for a few minutes, getting his breathing back to normal. When his heart rate was back to what was normal for being in the tunnel, he began to laugh. Quietly, at first, but then gradually getting louder and louder until he was gasping for breath again. Only after a few minutes did he calm down.

Still smiling to himself, he said, "I'd love to see the look on the Dark Ace's face when he realises that torturing me actually helped me survive. He'll be furious." And with that, he couldn't help it. He started chuckling again.

Aerrow set off again after a few minutes rest. He estimated that he was about halfway through the tunnel, which Starling had said was about one kilometre long. However, travelling on the rocky ground was difficult, and his knees and hands were grazed so much that they were now bleeding continuously. It didn't really help that one arm was still quite incapacitated. Although his fear of the dark and of confined spaces was always there, sometimes making him panic, and even a couple of times causing him to throw up, he finally felt that he was starting to get over it.

Piper was always there, too. Whenever he blinked, he could see her face. It helped, just as Starling had said. Sometimes he imagined her happy, which just made him want to run into her presence and sit there for hours. But sometimes, he saw her being tortured they way that they tortured him. It made him desperate to get to the end of the tunnel and get her out of there. It was mainly due to this that his fear was disappearing. It made him focus on getting to the end of the tunnel, rather than the tunnel itself.

Speaking of the tunnel… Aerrow was now feeling the right wall with his hand. He sensed – not heard, or smelt, just a sixth sense sort of thing – that there was some sort of danger up ahead. Sure enough, he soon experienced a stabbing pain in his hand and withdrew it immediately, sucking the blood off his palm. Then, more carefully than before, without moving his body any further forward, he felt the sharp object more carefully. There was a small hole in the wall, about the size of his thumb and forefinger of both hands put together. In the middle of the hole was the sharp point. Following the point back into the hole, Aerrow found that the object was actually an arrow, imbedded in the wall. There were probably heaps of them on both sides of the wall, just waiting for a sensor on the ground to be triggered.

He shuffled backwards and thought of what to do next. He could throw something into the line of fire, hoping that it set off the trigger- yes, that would be the best thing to do, but what to throw? The only thing he had on him were his energy blades, and even though he couldn't use both, he wasn't about to sacrifice one unless it was completely necessary. He didn't have time to feel around for a spare rock – although he doubted there were any around, Cyclonis would have made sure of that. He sat back on his heels and chewed his lip, thinking.

Suddenly he got an idea. One that would benefit him in two ways. He withdrew an energy blade and held it above his left arm. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and brought it down quickly. There was a loud crack, and Aerrow opened his eyes to see the empty plaster lying on the ground. Success. And he'd even done it without hurting himself. He moved his left arm around a bit, trying to remove some of the stiffness. The bone should be healed by now anyway, but it was probably still weak, so he wouldn't use it too often.

Putting the energy blade back where it came from, he seized the cast and chucked it forwards as far as he could. There was a faint _click_. The whizzing sound of many arrows moving through the air was followed by the _clang_ of them hitting the rock on the opposite side of the tunnel. He sat still for a few more minutes, before heading forwards cautiously. Thankfully, there only seemed to be one lot of arrows, and he was soon on his way again.

A few more minutes passed, and Aerrow was getting tired. He was still weak and unfit because of his injuries, and wasn't sure how much longer he could last without a rest. Just when he was about to stop, light pierced the tunnel from a few hundred metres ahead. After rubbing his eyes to check it was no joke, Aerrow crawled faster towards the exit. Piper was just one more step away.

* * *

_Phew. Ok, that's another one done. Only about 2 to go, although I'm not positive about that. I'm telling you guys, I will be so glad when this is over._

_**Please review!**_

_You actually don't understand how bad my writer's block was... it made me go on a binge eat... which is not a good thing._

_Ciao for now! (haha it rhymes)_

_Ali xox_


	11. Tension

_I'm sorry!!! I was going to update yesterday but then the site was down and yeah. But I'm going to stop making excuses. This was going to be one big chapter, but I've decided to split it into two and leave you with a big fat cliffhanger! Dreadfully sorry about that._

_**Blue:** I don't think Piper will be getting angry at him till he gets out of there. But i'll try to put some in for you then, if you want. I love writing shouting matches :)_

_**me loves jelly: **yay! that was sort of what i was aiming for, with the cast thing. I'm glad it worked. I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

_**Invader Lana: **I'll make sure Finn gets a hug for you.. probably in the next chapter. I'm glad you liked the traps in the tunnel, I just sorta made them up on the spot but knowing you liked it makes me happy. Sorry about the wait._

_**delphigirl: **Yep. Aerrow has conquered his fear and I don't think it will be bothering him too much anymore. Thanks for the review! Enjoy the chapter!_

_**Whisper: **I think the God of Writer's Block hates me. And I don't think that statement helped my case either. ah well, only two chapters to go, so he (or she) won't be bothering me much longer. Cliffhanger at the end of this one just for you!!_

_**Midnight-Rose-Dew: **Yea, Finn is a bit of an idiot here.. and I liked Starling's comeback too. Made me laugh.. and I wrote it. Enjoy the chapter!_

_**Amethyst: **Well Piper appears in this one, but you won't get her POV till next chapter. Sorry about the long wait, but I hope you like the chapter._

_**... : **oh, ok then. I'll write more, if you want. (that was meant to be sarcastic by the way. doesn't really work on the computer.) Thanks for the review!_

_**sweet-lil-nothing: **you have no idea how many times i've done that with other people's stories. I take it as a compliment that it happened to me! thanks so much!_

**

* * *

Previously: **

Putting the energy blade back where it came from, he seized the cast and chucked it forwards as far as he could. There was a faint _click_. The whizzing sound of many arrows moving through the air was followed by the _clang_ of them hitting the rock on the opposite side of the tunnel. He sat still for a few more minutes, before heading forwards cautiously. Thankfully, there only seemed to be one lot of arrows, and he was soon on his way again.

A few more minutes passed, and Aerrow was getting tired. He was still weak and unfit because of his injuries, and wasn't sure how much longer he could last without a rest. Just when he was about to stop, light pierced the tunnel from a few hundred metres ahead. After rubbing his eyes to check it was no joke, Aerrow crawled faster towards the exit.

**Chapter 11: Tension**

He had to wait a good few minutes for his eyes to adjust when he reached the end of the tunnel. As he was gradually able to see more of the inside of the cave, he was more and more amazed. However, this astonishment was cut short when he recognised a figure trapped in a large cage that was suspended from the roof of the cave. He was so happy that she was still alive and seemingly unharmed that he nearly shouted her name, but withdrew it at the last minute, because he knew that Cyclonis and the Dark Ace would be nearby.

At his first glance into the cave, Aerrow had noticed its massive size and also the huge weapon that took up most of the space. However, as soon as he had seen Piper in the cage, those things had faded from his mind until he was utterly unaware of them at all. They had become mere tiny details in the big scheme of things. His only thought was to free Piper. He would face what came after that when it became an issue once more.

He heard murmuring voices from the other side of the cave and quickly recognised them as Cyclonis and the Dark Ace. Thankfully, they were behind the massive object in the middle of the cavern and thus could not see the entrance or Aerrow. Nevertheless, Aerrow edged around the side of the cave, flattening himself against the wall so that he would not be easily noticed in case they suddenly came into view. He spared the tunnel a quick backwards glance before continuing, which gave him the encouragement that he needed.

From the entrance, the cage in which Piper sat was hanging in front of the weapon and slightly to its right, about ten metres above the ground. Because of this, Piper hadn't seen Aerrow as he approached slowly, making his way along the wall of the cavern until he was in line with the cage. From there he could only just see the silhouettes of the Dark Ace and Cyclonis, and was counting on the fact that they wouldn't move for a while, otherwise he and Piper were as good as – well, he didn't really want to think about it.

Now that he had made it, there was one issue: How to get Piper's attention without giving away his whereabouts to the two Cyclonians. He chewed his lip trying to come up with an answer. He couldn't, and was so annoyed about the amount of time he was wasting that he decided to take a risk. He wedged himself between two large rocks near the wall so that if Cyclonis or the Dark Ace came further around the corner, they would have to look closely to notice him. Then, staring hopefully up at the cage, as if Piper would feel the heat of his gaze and know he was there, he started hissing her name, trying to blend it in with the whirring noise the weapon was making.

"Piper."

No response.

"Psst," a bit louder.

Still no response.

"Piper!" he all but shouted.

Finally, her head appeared between the bars of the cage. Her hair was bedraggled and her eyes droopy – she had obviously just woken up from a very uncomfortable sleep. She stared at him in annoyance – normally a look that she reserved only for Finn – and mouthed, "What?"

Aerrow rolled his eyes. Piper wasn't, and had never been, a particularly good morning person, and was normally still 'asleep' for a while after she and woken up. Thus he almost considered it normal that she had no idea where she was. Deciding it was unwise to talk, he adopted the use of charades, which they were all pretty good at seeing the amount of practise they got with Radarr on hand.

And so he waved his hand in front of his face a few times, and then pointed around the cave. When he looked back at Piper, he almost laughed at seeing the perfect 'O' of surprise and understanding form on her face. It disappeared after a moment however, and then she was looking at him pointedly. He didn't need to ask to know that she was examining him for any injuries. He put his left arm behind his back, not wanting to face her wrath when she found out what he had done to the cast.

(From now on _italics is what they are saying/signing _and details about how they said it will be in brackets)

Piper noticed him put his hand behind his back, but said nothing, instead opting for, _Are you ok? _(Pointing at him, then putting her hands upwards and shrugging)

Aerrow sighed. _I'm fine, Piper. You? _(Pointing at himself, giving the thumbs up, then pointing at her with a questioning look on his face)

She ignored his question. _What are you doing here? _(Hands upwards, pointing at him then at the ground)

Aerrow looked at her like she was crazy. _What do you think I'm doing here? Rescuing you of course! _(Facepalm and a crazy look, pointing to her then at the tunnel)

_And what are you going to do about the weapon? _(Pointing over her shoulder at the weapon)

_Uh.. not quite sure yet. _(Scratching the back of his head while smiling sheepishly)

Piper rolled her eyes. _Why can't you do anything without me? _(Hands upwards, shaking head, pointing at him then at herself)

_I can too! _(hands on hips)

_Whatever. _(rolling her eyes)

Aerrow snorted, which caused Piper to glare at him for making a noise. He glanced back to where the Dark Ace and Cyclonis were and was glad to see that they hadn't seemed to move yet.

_So how are we going to get you out of there? _Aerrow asked. (Hands upwards, pointing at her then back over his shoulder)

_Please don't tell me you don't have a plan for that either. _(Hand on her forehead, looking exasperated)

_I do too! _(Hands on hips, nodding vigorously)

_Oh yeah? Spit it out, then. _(Cocking her head, then gesturing in front of her mouth as though speaking)

Aerrow thought quickly, chewing his lip. It wasn't quick enough for Piper, though.

_You don't, do you? _(Hands on hips, facepalm)

_No. _(Shaking his head dejectedly)

_Well, look. I've been working on this bar, and I've weakened it a bit, but I could do with a hand. _(Pointing at said bar, making a slicing motion across it with her hand, then pointing at him then the bar and doing the thumbs up sign)

_I'll hit it with my energy blade, which should do the trick. _(Pulling out his energy blade, and pointing at the bar)

_Do you want them to realise you're here or something? The noise and the light would bring far too much attention to you. _(Pointing towards the energy blade, to her ears and then her eyes and finally to the Cyclonians and back at Aerrow)

_Alright, I get it. But do you have a better idea? We're running out of time, here._ (Shrugging the shoulders, pointing at Piper, then at his wrist)

Piper shook her head in frustration, and then turned around quickly, as if hearing something. Aerrow listened too, and what he heard made him freeze in place. Voices were making their way towards them. He could make out the silhouettes moving not far away. Acting on impulse, Aerrow grabbed his energy blade and aimed at the bar. Piper was still looking around at the voices, but turned just as he was about to shoot. She shook her head at him vigorously, but Aerrow just gestured for her to move back. She did so reluctantly, and, with the voices getting closer, he shot a burst of energy at the bar. He didn't wait to see whether it connected or not. He squeezed out of his hiding place and ran towards the exit.

Suddenly he hit something hard and fell to the ground in a daze. The thing laughed – a laugh that he knew anywhere. Darkness threatened to overwhelm him, something he was almost used to by now, but a scream from behind him brought him back to his focus.

"Piper."

The Dark Ace laughed. "She'll be alright… for now. You're the one you should be worried about," he said as he drew his energy blade, an action mimicked by Aerrow.

Their blades met in a clash of red and blue. Aerrow, weakened from his injuries and his trip through the tunnel, knew that he would be no match for the Dark Ace in strength. If he could manage to out run him, then maybe he would be able to free Piper and then two against two wouldn't be too bad. He continued to parry the Dark Ace's blows, thinking. He was beginning to tire already, his breaths coming in short gasps. The Dark Ace had noticed and was now grinning. This infuriated Aerrow, who began to fight with more vigour, but the Dark Ace kept matching his attacks. He was tiring more and more, and just as he was sure that the Dark Ace would somehow overcome him, a calm, but evil voice disrupted the fight.

"Leave him, Ace. We need him untouched for the trial," said Cyclonis, emerging from behind Ace. Aerrow looked around, but Piper was nowhere to be seen.

"Surely you don't need him completely unscathed, Master."

"I do, Dark Ace, and you would do well to follow my orders," she said more forcefully.

"Yes Master," the Dark Ace replied, bowing low.

"Bring him over," she said, before turning and walking towards the middle of the cave.

The Dark Ace grabbed him by the scruff of the neck, and Aerrow could do little to resist. He was still recovering from the fight and it looked like it was two on one even if he did manage to escape. He tried to catch a glance of the cage where Piper was being held but the Dark Ace had his neck in a tight grip and it was impossible to turn his head. It was only when they stopped that he could have taken a look, but he was too immersed in the vastness of the weapon in front of him that he lost his chance.

Cyclonis was pushing random buttons on a display board that was connected to the weapon. Aerrow tried to shuffle over to see what she was doing, trying to work out how to shut it down or, better yet, destroy it. However, the Dark Ace gripped his shoulders tightly, and he couldn't move an inch. All of a sudden, Cyclonis whipped around to face Aerrow. She smirked. Then Aerrow felt the strangest sensation, as if his muscles had all tensed up and he couldn't control them at all. He was faintly aware of the Dark Ace removing his hands off his shoulders.

Still looking at Cyclonis, he saw that she was throwing a blue crystal up and catching it again, as if mocking him. When it clicked, he realised he had been hit with a paralyser crystal. He swore. Mentally, of course.

"That should keep you out of trouble until it is warmed up," Cyclonis commented, smirking. "I'm happy to say that you will be our first human test. Quite appropriate, don't you think? Of course, your _girlfriend_ will be the second," she said, laughing.

The Dark Ace stepped away from him to join Cyclonis, who was standing directly in front of the weapon. She turned to look at the screen, and then back to face Aerrow, smiling.

"30 seconds. This is exciting. Any last words, Aerrow, leader of the Storm Hawks?"

* * *

_And I think that's a lovely note to stop on, don't you? _

_Again, I'm sorry, but i doubt that I'll be able to update before the weekend. Please don't kill me!_

_Reviews would be most welcome, though._

_And I've decided that there will be one more chapter and then the epilogue to go._

_Thanks everyone!_

_Ali xox_


	12. Finally!

_Phew. I'm so glad this chapter is over. The next one should be up quicker cause it will just be a bit of fun and fluffy stuff. I don't want to take up too much of your time, so please read on._

_**Invader Lana: **glad you liked the charades. please enjoy!_

_**Amethyst: ***laughs evilly* yes, I did have to finish it there. well, at least i continued the story. here is the next installment, and no cliffhanger in this one, either._

_**Blue:** I did know that OK is a sideways man. MLIA possibly? if not, well, awkward for me. sorry about the delay, hope you waited patiently enough for Finn. Enjoy!_

_**Midnight-Rose-Dew: **I hope this is worth the wait, cause i really really don't want to be in trouble. Wow. I just felt like a little kid there. Ah well, hope you like!_

_**delphigirl: **well here you go.. this is how they get out. Did i just give away that they get out? Meh. you knew they would get out anyway._

_**me loves jelly: **sorry, i did have to stop it there, but here is the next chapter, so you can find out what happens. Glad you liked the charades, it was a bit of a spur of the moment thing, like most of my ideas. Please enjoy!_

_**Diehard: **don't worry about not reviewing, I knew you were still out there. i'm glad you liked the charades. but i have to disagree with you. i'm happy that this fic will finished soon... you probably understand, being a writer and all. Enjoy!_

_**Whisper: **see, you really shouldn't tell me how much you like cliffhangers or i will turn all evil on you. i know you love them deep (deep) down, which is why there is another one in this chapter for you!!! - No, please don't kill me, I'm joking! joking i tell you!!!_

**

* * *

Previously:**

"I'm happy to say that you will be our first human test. Quite appropriate, don't you think? Of course, your _girlfriend_ will be the second," she said, laughing.

The Dark Ace stepped away from Aerrow to join Cyclonis, who was standing directly in front of the weapon. She turned to look at the screen, and then back to face Aerrow, smiling.

"30 seconds. This is exciting. Any last words, Aerrow, leader of the Storm Hawks?"

**Chapter 12: Finally**

_Piper – A few minutes previously_

The blast from Aerrow's energy blade hit the bar directly on target. It didn't snap, but Piper could tell that it had weakened significantly and she would be able to escape after working on the area for a few minutes. Giving Aerrow silent thanks in her head, she moved forward to examine the bar more closely. She could only pray that Cyclonis and the Dark Ace hadn't noticed Aerrow hit the bar. That way her escape could stay a surprise and they would be able to destroy the weapon and get out of there easily… well, more easily than if they had seen, that was.

She looked up just in time to see Aerrow run headlong into the Dark Ace. She opened her mouth to call out his name in a panic, but at that moment a blast of energy hit the rope the cage was dangling from, causing it to swing wildly. Piper screamed as she was thrown to the other side of the cage, and held onto one of the bars for dear life. She closed her eyes as the cage kept swaying from side to side. When the violent swinging had stopped, she let go and shakily stood up, looking around to see what had happened to Aerrow.

She never got to see what Aerrow was up to. Instead, her eyes fixed on someone standing right in front of her… or as 'in front of' as you can get in a cage suspended ten metres in the air. Cyclonis. Cyclonis was staring at Piper knowingly, and her hope that no one had seen Aerrow hit the bar of the cage faded. No one spoke, but Piper watched as Cyclonis' eyes moved to fix on the weapon, and then on Aerrow, who was currently loosing a fight against the Dark Ace. When Cyclonis' eyes moved back to Piper, the threat was implicit: if you escape we won't hesitate to use the weapon on Aerrow. Piper nodded her understanding, and Cyclonis walked away towards the fight.

Piper sat down and buried her head in her hands. She was safe in the notion that they wouldn't hurt Aerrow, yet. But she knew that whether she escaped or not, they wouldn't let him get out of there unscathed. She chewed her lip, weighing up the advantages and disadvantages of escaping. If she did escape, and she was noticed, it would only speed up Aerrow's… well, she didn't really want to think about it. But, if she stayed put, then Aerrow would eventually… and she would still be stuck in the cage. If there was just some way that she could escape without them noticing, then perhaps it was possible that Aerrow might…

She raised her head, and there was the faintest glimmer of hope in her eyes. She closed her eyes and put her hand in her pocket, reaching, hoping… because both her and Aerrow's lives depended on the fact that this thing was still in her pocket. Just when she had lost hope, her fingers touched something rough and jagged. Her heart leaped, and her hand closed around the small object. She pulled it out of her pocket and stared at it in delight.

It was pale green in colour, reminding her of the ferns on Terra Amazonia, where she first came up with the idea for the crystal. Since then, she had been working on it on and off, as she usually did with her ideas. She had just been about to test it out when something had happened… she couldn't remember what it was, but she had stuck it in her pocket for testing later. It could save their lives now. She only hoped that it would work.

She was still debating whether it would be safer to wait and see how things played out, instead of taking a risk which possibly wouldn't work, when she heard the weapon behind her started whirring more loudly and quickly. She looked around to find Aerrow's red hair, but they must have been around the other side of the weapon, out of her sight. Only pausing to let out some of Finn's choicest swear words, Piper pulled the silencing crystal from her pocket, sent a quick plea to the gods above her, and shot it at the weakened pole. After the beam of energy had hit the spot, she placed the crystal back in her pocket. She breathed in deeply, and then kicked out with all her might at the offending bar.

She watched as it split in two from the force of her kick, and then began its fall to the ground. Piper winced, waiting for the clang of the bar hitting the floor of the cave, but it never came. She peered over the edge and punched the air in celebration. The bar had hit the ground, but her crystal had silenced the sound. Success. Without further ado, Piper used the crystal on her shoes. She wasn't game to use it on herself, as she didn't know how long it would take to wear off, and she was quite positive that she would want people to be able to hear her at some stage.

She slipped through the gap that the fallen bar had made, and then lowered herself slowly so that she was hanging from the cage by her hands. She didn't look down, knowing that she would loose all confidence if she did. Instead, she bit her tongue to keep herself from crying out, closed her eyes, and let go. The whooshing of air past her ears was the only clue that she was actually falling. Well, that and the sharp pain in her ankles and then her bum as she landed on the very hard ground. Thankfully, the silencing crystal had worked again, and her landing had not made a sound.

She sat up and rubbed her sore ankles, praying that they weren't broken. After a while the pain receded slightly and she swallowed, tasting the salty tang of blood in her mouth from where she had bitten her tongue. Hearing the whirring noise increase again, she knew that she was running out of time. She got up shakily and made her way towards the weapon, still out of sight of Cyclonis and the Dark Ace.

From the conversations that she had overheard during her time in the cave, she knew that the weapon was controlled using a display board around the side that Cyclonis was on. If she could somehow get over there without being seen, then… what? Even if she did somehow get to the control panel and prevent the weapon from killing Aerrow, the Dark Ace and Cyclonis would be close enough to kill him without the weapon. She needed a plan.

Just then, she heard Cyclonis' voice, "30 seconds. This is exciting. Any last words, Aerrow, leader of the Storm Hawks?"

To hell with a plan, she was going to have to wing it. She had 30 seconds to save Aerrow. She ran around the side of the weapon, trying to get to the control panel as quickly as possible. She put on an extra burst of speed as she rounded the last corner, only faintly noticing Aerrow frozen in the background, and- WHAM! She crashed into two figures standing in front of the screen. They fell over like bowling pins, and Piper, thinking quickly, grabbed the paralyser crystal that had fallen from Cyclonis' hand and froze them both. Then, taking a deep breath, she turned and faced the screen.

If the situation weren't so serious, she would have laughed. It reminded her exactly of all those action movies where the hero has to stop the bomb just before it blows up him everyone else in the near vicinity. She always used to laugh as they fumbled around, trying to find the right wire to cut, or the right button to press that would stop the bomb. But, as she was turning to face the weapon, and Aerrow's fate, she decided that she would never laugh at them again. Because really, their job was quite hard. She had no idea what button she needed to press to stop her… friend from being blown to smithereens.

And so it was, as she saw the screen with the large red numbers 0:12 slowly making their way to 0:00, she panicked. She was looking around the screen without seeing, and the only thing her eyes were focussing on were the massive red numbers, counting down the seconds till Aerrow's death. She tried to calm herself, tried to reason with her mind, but it didn't work. Her heart rate was through the roof, and she had started to cry so that the tears in her eyes just blurred her sight more. The massive number had made it down to 0:05 when a cool hand touched her on the arm, making her jump out of her skin.

"You might want to try the cancel button, Piper," said a voice, the hand now pointing to an equally as massive CANCEL button below the 0:02.

"Right," she said, as she leaned forwards and pressed the button. As in the movies, it stopped exactly on 0:01. She breathed again.

When she turned around to face Aerrow (cause that's who it was, if you hadn't already realised) he was examining the screen quietly, his face utterly calm, not like someone's face should be when they had just been a second away from death. She knew her face was a total and utter mess.

Aerrow blew out through his nose. "Pity there's no self-destruct button."

Piper tried to regain some control. "Aerrow, they'll be waking up soon. We need to get out of here."

"We need to destroy the weapon, Piper. After all, that's what we came here to do."

"You're such a hypocrite, you know? A few minutes ago you were going to rescue me then get out of here!"

"Hark who's talking, Miss We-Have-To-Destroy-The-Weapon. We may as well do it now, since the two 'Psychonians' are incapacitated."

"We'll see who's incapacitated after I kick your butt," said an evil voice from behind them.

Aerrow turned and drew his energy blade just in time to meet the attack from the Dark Ace. As they started fighting again, Piper quickly paralysed Cyclonis for the second time. She tried to do the same to the Dark Ace, but the boys were moving so fast that she was afraid she would hit Aerrow instead. Aerrow was loosing the fight, and Piper looked on helplessly as the Dark Ace cornered him against the wall, and then plunged his blade forward, only to have it dig into the side of the cave where Aerrow's head was moments before. As Piper watched the rocks slide down the side of the cave, she had an idea. She thought it would work, but… there were some issues. She would have to ask Aerrow first.

"Aerrow?" she called out.

"What?" Aerrow puffed, "I'm kinda busy right now, Piper."

"I have an idea, but-"

"Just do it! I don't care what it is!"

Piper shrugged, and made her way back to the weapon, leaving Aerrow and the Dark Ace fighting. She was pretty sure Aerrow could hold on for a little while longer. On the way, she re-did the paralysis on Cyclonis, just in case. She didn't want another repeat of a few minutes ago. She walked up to the weapon and examined the display board. It was a lot easier to read this time around. She found what she needed, and stepped back. The board only showed that there was twenty seconds to countdown, seeing as the weapon was already warmed up. She double-checked where Aerrow was, just to make sure that he was out of the way, and then stepped right up against the wall, counting down to herself.

"…3…2…1…"

CRACK.

The top of the cave split open, as if a giant had sliced it clean down the middle. A loud and very annoying sound hit their ears as rocks started raining down. Piper could vaguely see Aerrow and the Dark Ace stop fighting to cover their heads with their arms. Aerrow spotted her and started to run over, while the Dark Ace grabbed Cyclonis and ran towards the tunnel. Piper seized Aerrow's arm and tried to tug him towards the tunnel, but he wouldn't follow. Thinking he was frightened of going back in there, she turned to look at him.

Aerrow's eyes were staring at something in the sky above him, and so Piper, confused, followed his gaze. Her mouth dropped open as she recognised the Condor, and, on the landing strip, Finn – with his guitar. Piper rolled her eyes.

"I knew I should have recognised that sound."

Aerrow moved closer to her. "Huh?"

"Never mind."

They moved in under an overhang as bigger rocks started to fall down around them. They huddled together, waiting. Soon enough, the humming sound of a skimmer joined the crash of tumbling rocks and the annoying sound of Finn's 'rock'. Because they wouldn't be able to hear each other speak, Aerrow pointed out Junko and Radarr dodging the falling rocks on their skimmers. Taking a risk, they decided to run out before they got caved in. Luckily, Junko and Radarr spotted them and they were soon safely on the back of a skimmer each and flying towards the Condor.

*

They made it back to the Condor with little difficulty, except they still couldn't hold a decent conversation with Finn playing his guitar like there was no tomorrow. As soon as they were close enough, Piper jumped of the back of Junko's skimmer and practically ran to the speakers and pulled out the plug.

"Hey! I wasn't finished the song yet!" Finn protested.

"Cut it out, Finn," she replied, brushing dirt out of her hair.

"No I will not cut it out! You can't deny it any longer; my music has saved your lives twice! Twice!" he repeated, as if she hadn't heard it the first time.

"It did not! That was me, thank you very much! It had nothing to do with your horrid… music, if that's what you can call it," she retorted.

"You did not just say that."

"Yes, I think I did just say that."

"You did not just say that."

"Oi. Cut it out, guys," came Aerrow's voice.

Piper looked over at Aerrow, who was gingerly getting off the skimmer with Junko's help. It wasn't until they were out in the light that she could really see the toll that her rescue had taken on him. He seemed to be awfully pale. They shut up.

*

A few hours later found the whole team sitting on the bridge, drinking hot chocolate. Aerrow was snoring quietly, covered by a blanket. Finn, Junko, Radarr and Stork were playing cards on the table. Piper was pretending to watch the game, but was really watching over Aerrow. Starling, her leg propped up on the table and in a cast, looked between Piper and Aerrow. Then she whispered so that only Piper could hear her.

"He'll be okay, you know."

Piper smiled, and looked at Aerrow's peaceful face.

"I know."

* * *

_See, Whisper - I was joking when i said there was a cliffhanger! Bet you're happy now! (well i hope so anyway)_

_Next chapter will be out next weekend at the latest.. i might try for earlier but we'll see how it goes._

_Thanks for reading!_

_Ali_


	13. Epilogue

_I'm just gonna hide for a while... for those of you who want an explanation for my VERY long absence, its at the end, but i'm just going to let you cool down while you read the epilogue._

**

* * *

Chapter 13: Epilogue**

Piper was lying in her bed, staring up at the ceiling contentedly. Yesterday had been the climax of months of tension, and now it was all finally over. She sighed with relief. They had made it out unscathed. Well, relatively unscathed. If she had any say in it then Aerrow would be in bed for a few more weeks, but she doubted that would happen. At least he was now recovering. Starling had a broken leg, but nothing that couldn't be easily fixed. Junko and Radarr were fine, only suffering minor cuts from the rock fall in the cave. Stork was being his normal self, believing that he was somehow being attacked by something, and the only thing wrong with Finn was his bruised ego – which was occurring because Piper still wouldn't admit that it was him that had saved their lives – which it wasn't of course, so Piper was never going to admit it.

Finn was sitting at the table eating his Atmos Pops impatiently. Aerrow still hadn't woken up and he was getting annoyed. He couldn't wait to ask him his side to the whole rescue story – Finn was sure that his best friend would support him against Piper. Junko believed him, because obviously he saw the whole thing and had seen how it played out. Stork, however, was biased… and so just because he didn't like Finn's guitar playing and was positive that it never had and never would save their lives he sided with Piper. Radarr… well, no one knew what Radarr thought. That is, the only people who cared (ie. Finn and Piper) couldn't tell what his opinion was, and so he got left out. When Finn asked her, Starling said quite loudly that she wouldn't take part in 'unnecessary and immature arguments' (making both Finn and Piper blush). However, they were both so stubborn and adamant that their side of the story was right that neither would give in, despite their idol naming them immature. That made two against two, and so Aerrow would be the one who decided who tipped the scales… if he would only get up already!

An hour later, the whole team, minus Aerrow, were eating breakfast. Finn, who had finished ages ago, was tapping his spoon against the table impatiently. He was in a very bad mood because he didn't want Piper to win again… she always won their arguments. But this one would be different. While Finn was steaming, the others talked among themselves.

"How's your leg today, Starling?" Piper asked.

"It's a bit better, thanks Piper."

_Tap tap tap tap tap_

Piper glared at Finn, but he didn't notice because he was glowering at the table.

"Hey Piper," asked Junko, "Do you reckon we can have a surprise party for Aerrow?"

The tapping stopped suddenly.

"I dunno Junko, it depends what everyone else says."

_Tap tap tap tap tap_

Radarr jumped up and down, miming blowing up balloons and throwing party streamers.

Starling observed this with one eyebrow slightly raised, before chuckling and saying, "Count me in, too. I think we deserve a party after all this. What do you say, Piper?"

_Tap tap tap tap tap_

Piper took a deep, calming breath in, closing her eyes and pretending that she was in a peaceful place with no noise, and better yet, no Finn. However, when she opened her eyes Finn was still sitting across the table and the tapping noise was still in her ears. Nonetheless, she tried ignoring it, hoping that he would stop if no one payed him any attention.

"I still don't know…"

"Aw, come on, Piper, it'll be fun!" Junko tried to convince her.

"You do need to lighten up a bit," Starling added.

_Tap tap tap tap tap_

Piper sighed. "Fine." Junko and Radarr brightened, and everyone turned to Stork, who seemed to wither under their gazes.

"Alright, alright, fine, I'm in. But in no way am I going near that dratted barbeque again," said Stork, before turning away muttering about Barbeque-Party-Flesh-Eating-Mites.

"Good," said Piper, clapping her hands together, "it's all settled then. Junko, if you-"

"Excuse me?" Finn said loudly, but no one responded, or even acknowledged that they had heard him. "Helloooooo!" he yelled, waving his hand in front of Piper's face.

Piper finally snapped. "What, Finn?"

"Are you or are you not going to ask me my opinion on this?"

"I think not."

Finn crossed his arms with an exasperated noise. "And why not?"

"Because you are acting so immaturely that we don't want you at this party!" Piper retaliated.

Ever the caring one, Junko frowned, "But I want him at the party, Piper."

Piper snapped her head around to face Junko, "Stay out of this, Junko."

But Finn jumped at the chance to beat Piper in an argument, "Ha! See, Piper! You can't just keep making things up all the time!"

Piper paused, before laughing, "This is about your music again, isn't it?"

Finn retaliated, "So what if it is?"

Starling face-palmed before gesturing to the others. They got up and left the room to plan the party while Finn and Piper continued their argument.

"You think you're so good, but you're not, Finn!"

"Hark who's talking miss I'm-so-perfect-all-the-time!"

"You're so stupid, I'd be surprised if the Dark Ace's blade could penetrate your thick head!"

"Oh, yeah? Well your head is so big I have no idea how you balance!"

"You're such a prat, Finn."

"Yeah? Well you're a moron."

"Git."

"Guys.."

"Douchebag."

"Guys.."

"Asshole."

"HEY! Cut it out!" Aerrow's voice came from the doorway. The two immediately stopped talking, but proceeded to have an intense silent battle with each other.

"What the hell is this all about?" he asked as he walked into the room, placing himself between Piper and Finn.

Finn pointed at Piper, saying, "She-", while at the same time Piper pointed at Finn saying, "He-"

Aerrow rolled his eyes. "Guys, stop being so immature."

They stuck their tongues out at each other.

"I mean it," he said in his best leader voice.

They both folded their arms and turned away from each other.

Aerrow sighed. He would have to sort this out now. He had a lot of experience with Piper/Finn arguments and knew that if he left things to fester… he shuddered. Lets just say it would be best if he sorted it out now. Hoping that Piper would understand, he called upon Finn first to explain what was going on.

"Finn, what is it?"

Finn turned around and pointed at Piper. "She-"

Piper looked outraged. "Huh. Me? I didn't do anything!"

Aerrow resisted the urge to punch them both. Piper obviously wasn't being very understanding today.

"Alright, alright. SHUT IT!" he yelled, as they had started trading insults again.

"Finn. Cut to it already. What's going on? Piper- stay out of it."

"Cut to it? Alright. You want short and sweet, I'll give it. In your esteemed opinion, Aerrow, was it my awesome music (cue snort from Piper) or Piper pushing some button that contributed to your escape from the cave?"

Aerrow again resisted the urge to punch them both. "You know what? I'm not going to give you 'my esteemed opinion'. If you two can't let this go now, then… I'll do something bad. So give it a rest, already," he saw them both open their mouths to retaliate, "I said GIVE IT A REST."

He promptly sat down at the table and started to eat his breakfast. Piper and Finn glared at each other, and then stalked off in opposite directions.

***

Later that day, Aerrow walked onto the bridge, planning on sitting down and chatting with his team. When he got to the door, he stopped. It was pitch black, which was strange. The lights were always on at the bridge, in case of an emergency. He was about to yell for Stork when a small noise caught his attention. It sounded like "Rad-"

"SURPRISE!!!!"

The lights turned on and his team jumped out at him. He jumped backwards in fright, before grinning. There were balloons and crepe paper everywhere, and a massive cake in the middle of the table. Someone – Finn, he guessed – turned on the music and the party began.

Only about ten minutes later, Junko's voice could be heard over the music. "Is it time for the cake yet?"

It didn't take long for them all to agree, and so they made their way over to the table. Aerrow grabbed a knife and was about to cut it when-

"If you touch the bottom you have to kiss the closest girl," said Finn.

"It's not his birthday, you dolt," replied Piper.

Keen to ignore another argument, and perhaps for other reasons, Starling said, "I think Finn's right this time, Piper." Everyone was too busy watching Finn's reaction (pumping his fist in the air) to notice Starling move further away from the cake.

Aerrow rolled his eyes and proceeded to cut the cake. He stopped before it hit the bottom, but Finn 'accidentally' knocked him so that it touched.

"Ha! Aerrow hit the bottom! He gets to kiss the closest girl!" Finn immediately looked around, and, at finding Piper to be the closest, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over next to Aerrow. "Go on!"

Aerrow rolled his eyes again and leaned in to peck Piper on the cheek. He pulled away quickly and they both blushed bright red. Everyone smiled except Finn, who was retching in the background, and Stork, who was running to grab his spray for cooties. The music got turned up and the party began.

Many hours later, they sat among popped balloons and food wrappers, talking and chatting contentedly. No one could keep the smiles of their face for long. Even Finn, who was complaining about Starling calling him a loser in aluminium, couldn't help but find the humour in the situation. After hearing the story, Piper got up and made her way over to Finn, a huge smile on her face.

"Poor Finn. Someone needs a hug."

Confused and very suspicious of a smiling Piper, Finn hesitated, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing. Aren't I allowed to give you a hug?"

Still confused, but unable to notice anything wrong, Finn opened his arms. Piper pulled him into a hug. When she let go, nothing happened.

"See?" she said, still smiling.

Finn smiled in reply. She stepped back just as he heard a noise from above. He looked up, and was met with a bucket of honey filled water bombs being tipped by a grinning Radarr. Before he could react, they hit his face and burst, spreading the slimy, sticky substance all over his body. After the last one had landed, Finn looked at Piper. She had her arm over Aerrow's shoulder, and they were both laughing their heads off. As a matter of fact, the whole team was laughing.

He fixed Piper with a glare worthy of Master Cyclonis, and whispered, "You are so dead."

She stopped laughing immediately, and Aerrow, between gasps for breath, said, "You'd better run, Piper."

Finn smiled grimly. "Oh, she'd better. I have a hug to return."

Piper's screams could be heard long after they ran from the Condor.

* * *

_Ok, so I know there is no excuse for waiting over a month for this chapter, but I'll give you mine anyway. I'm in my last year of school and I also have sports training for 16 hours a week on top of school. So, in order to keep myself from procrastinating my schoolwork, I banned myself from FanFiction (which took a lot of effort, mind you). That's it. But I'm really really sorry for making you wait so long._

_To all my reviewers: I love you! You are the most awesome people ever. I give you all virtual cake :P_

_I don't have time to write my normal replies to the reviews from last chapter, but some people I really want to thank are Blue, Diehard, and Whisper, whom I can count on to review almost all of my chapters and who always somehow manage to make my day. So thanks. And also to delphigirl - thanks so much for your concern, I did try to update ASAP, but you made me get back on track._

_Please review my last chapter and I promise I will reply after I get back from holidays (which will be in just over a week). So any questions, issues problems or hassles... feel free._

_Love you all!!!_

Ali xox


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